Hands on a Hard Body Goes from Docu to Tuner

Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Doug Wright has teamed with lyricist Amanda Green to turn the 1997 documentary “Hands on a Hard Body” into a stage musical.

The musical was commissioned by the La Jolla Playhouse, where the musical will make its initial run. Also involved in a development capacity is Gotham-based Playwrights Horizon.

The musical will be produced by Kevin Morris, Robb Bindler and Chapin Wilson.

Considered a cult favorite, the documentary chronicles an annual endurance contest in Longview, Texas, in which 24 contestants competed for a new pickup truck. The winner was the person who stood upright longest, with one hand on the truck. The contest ended after 77 hours.

Wright, who grew up in Dallas, was familiar with the annual contest and saw the film which hasn’t been in DVD circulation for years. He felt that the hopes and desperation of the contestants made it work onstage. Wright brought it to Green, the Jonathan Larson Award-winning lyricist whose credits include “High Fidelity.” 

“What could have been a comical look at a local eccentric tradition and a send-up of Texas stereotypes became a powerful metaphor for the nature of success and failure in America,” Wright said. “For each character, the truck represents something different. There is a devoutly religious contestant for whom this is a test of faith, there is a returning champion defending his manhood, a bike-riding young woman for whom this is a ticket out of a small community to chase larger dreams.”

The $35,000 docu was financed by Morris, a principal of the Century City law firm Morris Yorn Barnes & Levine. Morris owns the picture with Bindler, who directed, and Matthew McConaughey, who paid to have the print blown up to 16 mm so that it could play the festival circuit. 

Morris said there have been several approaches to adapt the docu, but the owners resisted. That included a campaign to turn the contest into a film by director Robert Altman. Altman died before anything happened.

Wright has worked with Playwrights Horizon on his Pulitzer Prize-winning play “I Am My Own Wife” and the musical “Grey Gardens.” La Jolla Playhouse showcased “I Am My Own Wife” and commissioned Wright’s adaptation of the August Strindberg play “Creditors,” which will premiere at La Jolla Playhouse later this season.

“Commissions are a core component of our artistic mission, and we couldn’t be more excited to help originate this new piece based on a trenchant slice of Americana that explores the most exuberant and most troubling aspects of our competitive spirit,” said La Jolla Playhouse Artistic Director Christopher Ashley.