Source: Entertainment Weekly

The Baby-Sitters Club is back — and this time, they sing.

TWTheatricals announced Monday that it has optioned the rights to Ann M. Martin’s beloved Baby-Sitters Club novels and is developing the material as a stage musical.

The musical will feature a book by Kate Wetherhead (The Devil Wears Prada, Ever After), as well as music and lyrics by Mark Sonnenblick, who wrote songs for this summer’s mega-hit KPop Demon Hunters, including the chart-topper “Golden.” Sonnenblick has previously penned music and lyrics for The Devil Wears Prada, Spirited, and Theater Camp. Annie Tippe (Ghost Quartet, Octet) is on board to direct and choreograph the Baby-Sitters Club musical.

An industry presentation is slated for Nov. 13, with producers eyeing an official theatrical premiere in spring 2027.

“We look forward to bringing The Babysitters Club themes of friendship, growing pains, independence and self-discovery to a live audience,” Wetherhead said in a statement, “so that both young people and adults can see for themselves (or their former selves) that they are not alone in the grand adventure of ‘growing up.'”

Sonnenblick added, “Though their triumphs and struggles and crushes are evergreen, these are girls of the 80’s and 90’s. So the score’s inspired by some of our favorite — Sheryl Crow, Indigo Girls, Shania Twain. We’re just very excited for everyone to hang out with the club in Stoneybrook, Connecticut, whether it’s your first time or your five hundredth.”

This new take on the material will pick up 12 years after the disbanding of the Baby-Sitters Club, as the founding members — Kristy, Mary, Anne, Claudia, and Stacey — return to Stoneybrook to honor a pact made by their 13-year-old selves. The women reflect on defining moments of their pasts to answer critical questions they’re facing in the present day: questions of identity, career, relationships, and fulfillment.

Barbara Pasternack, producing artistic director at TWTheatricals, said that Martin’s novels “introduced the original girl bosses, shaping and inspiring the lives of millions of young women and girls then — and still today. For adults who loved the books, it taps into a shared sense of nostalgia, inviting each of us to revisit the memories that shaped us while reflecting on how far we’ve come. For audiences of any age, it’s an inspiring story of friendship, empowerment, and finding your own voice, and a reminder that our stories are always evolving. And the score is amazing!”

The four women will spend the musical reliving their time in the Baby-Sitters Club, reinvigorating the core friendships that guided them in their teen years.

“It’s hard to believe that it’s been almost four decades since the first Baby-Sitters Club book, Kristy’s Great Idea, was published,” Martin said in a statement. “And now a Baby-Sitters Club musical? What a great idea! I love musicals and am excited to see the adventures of Kristy, Claudia, Mary Anne, and Stacey come to life on stage. I’m humbled by the ongoing popularity of the series, and couldn’t be more thrilled by this news.”

First published in 1986, the Baby-Sitters Club franchise has spawned more than 250 books, four spinoff series, graphic-novel adaptations, an HBO series, a feature film, and a Netflix show.

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