British-Nigerian Actress, Cynthia Erivo To Star In Upcoming Musical, 'Rip Van Winkle'

Cynthia Erivo‘s 2019 is continuing with a bang, as she just landed the lead role in Rip Van Winkle, a movie musical based on a story by Josh Gad (Frozen, Beauty and the Beast).

The British-Nigerian singer and actress already had a stellar 2018, with standout roles in Steve McQueen’s Widows and Drew Goddard’s Bad Times at the El Royale. She will also be playing Harriet Tubman in the upcoming biopic, Harriet, later this year.

Cynthia Erivo as Harriet Tubman in Harriet (Photo: Glen Wilson/Focus Features)

Rip Van Winkle follows a villager in colonial America who escapes his nagging wife by wandering into the Catskill Mountains, only to fall asleep and wake up 20 years later, to discover he has slept through the American Revolution, and the world has passed him by.

The screenplay for the movie musical will be written by the writer of the upcoming Plastic Man movie, Amanda Idoko; and the movie’s songs will be written by Kate Anderson and Elissa Samsel, who previously wrote the songs for Olaf’s Frozen Adventure. 

We don’t yet know what Josh Gad’s spin on the story will be, and it is unclear what Erivo will be playing, but her musical talent is unquestionable — she has a Tony and a Grammy for her work in The Colour Purple to prove that.

Well, we’re keeping our fingers crossed for a gender-swapped version of the fascinating tale.

Cynthia Erivo in Colour Purple (Photo: Playbill)