A musical adaptation of John Berendt's 1994 Pulitzer finalist novel Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil is in development, with Taylor Mac (Gary, A Sequel to Titus Andronicus) writing the book and Jason Robert Brown (Parade, Bridges of Madison County) handling the score.

An invitation-only industry reading will be held May 12 and 13, with Rob Ashford directing and Tanya Birl and Sarah O'Gleby choreographing. More members of the creative team will be revealed in the coming weeks.

The novel, a New York Times Best-Seller, tracks an antiques dealer through four trials for murdering a male prostitute in Savannah, Georgia. The story is modeled on the real-life shooting of Daniel Lewis Hansford. The work won the 1995 Boeke Prize and was a finalist for the 1995 Pulitzer Prize for non-fiction. A film adaptation was released in 1997 starring John Cusack and Kevin Spacey.

The new musical adaptation is being produced by Hal Luftig, Craig Haffner, and Sherry Wright. Were the musical to come to Broadway, it would be Ashford's first time helming a new musical on the Main Stem.