Lena Dunham and Carly Rae Jepsen Team Up for Broadway Musical Based on '10 Things I Hate About You'

The 1999 teen comedy 10 Things I Hate About You is being adapted into a Broadway musical set to arrive in 2027. Lena Dunham will co-write the book with Jessica Huang, while Carly Rae Jepsen and Ethan Gruska handle the songwriting. According to Variety, preview performances begin August 17, 2027 — but casting and the theater have not yet been announced.

Who's Behind It

Dunham is the creator of HBO's Girls; Jepsen's recent work includes the double album Day And Night, and she's known for tracks like "Cut To The Feeling." This marks their first collaboration, with Dunham on book duties and Jepsen and Gruska composing music and lyrics.

The official logline frames the musical as "rebellious," centered on growing up, self-discovery, and refusing to live by other people's expectations — with two sisters navigating crushes, cliques, and teenage anxiety on their own terms.

The 1999 Original

The source film was a loose modern-day retelling of Shakespeare's The Taming of the Shrew, set in an American high school. New student Cameron (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) falls for classmate Bianca (Larisa Oleynik), but her father won't let her date until her antisocial older sister Kat (Julia Stiles) does. Cameron recruits school bad boy Patrick (Heath Ledger) to woo Kat, and the scheme turns into real feelings.

The film helped launch Stiles, Gordon-Levitt, and Ledger into the mainstream. Stiles went on to star in Save The Last Dance and the Bourne franchise; Gordon-Levitt's credits include 500 Days of Summer, The Dark Knight Rises, and Inception. Ledger won an Academy Award for his role as the Joker in The Dark Knight, released months after his death in January 2008 at age 28.

What We Don't Know Yet

No cast, theater, or ticketing details have been announced beyond the August 17, 2027 preview start date. As reported by NME, Dunham's recent memoir also touched on her relationship with producer Jack Antonoff, describing feeling "like a ghost" during their time together — and appearing to reference his relationship with a "teen pop star," widely speculated to be Lorde.