Diane Paulus Will Direct Immersive David Bowie Inspired LIFE ON MARS at American Repertory Theater

BroadwayWorld has details of the inaugural production at the David E. and Stacey L. Goel Center for Creativity & Performance, the new Allston home of the American Repertory Theater at Harvard University, set to launch next May.

Titled Life on Mars, the immersive theatrical production will be directed by Diane Paulus and brought to life by the music of David Bowie. The production has been mounted by special arrangement with the David Bowie Estate, Unigram, Access Entertainment, and Warner Music Group.

Paulus has served as the Artistic Director of A.R.T. since 2008 and has built a reputation for boundary-pushing, audience-centered work. She won the Tony Award for Best Direction of a Musical for the 2013 revival of Pippin, which also won Best Revival, and her Broadway credits include the Tony-winning revivals of Hair and The Gershwins’ Porgy and Bess, as well as Waitress, Finding Neverland, and Jagged Little Pill. Her immersive credits include the long-running The Donkey Show and Cirque du Soleil’s Amaluna. 

Life on Mars marks the latest stage adaptation tied to Bowie’s catalogue. The artist previously collaborated on Lazarus, a musical with a book by Enda Walsh inspired by Walter Tevis’s 1963 novel The Man Who Fell to Earth. Featuring songs newly composed by Bowie alongside reworkings of his earlier material, Lazarus premiered Off-Broadway at New York Theatre Workshop in December 2015 under the direction of Ivo van Hove and starred Michael C. Hall, Cristin Milioti, and Sophia Anne Caruso. The production was among the last works Bowie completed before his death on January 10, 2016, and subsequently played London’s King’s Cross Theatre before being staged internationally.

The Goel Center, designed by Haworth Tompkins with ARC/Architectural Resources Cambridge and theater consultant Charcoalblue, is a 70,000-square-foot facility at 175 North Harvard Street featuring a 700-seat West Stage, a 300-seat East Stage, rehearsal studios, teaching spaces, and an outdoor performance yard.

Further casting, creative team, and ticketing details for Life on Mars have not yet been announced.