Broadway is officially bringing back the halls of Padua High School. The creative team of the 10 Things I Hate About You announced Monday that the musical will officially open its theatrical curtains in one year — on Aug. 17, 2027.
“Amid the crushes, cliques, and teenage angst, two sisters set out to define themselves on their own terms,” a release for the musical read. “This rebellious new musical is about growing up, discovering yourself, and refusing to live by others’ expectations.”
While there’s no news on cast of which theater the show will move into, excitement is growing around the show’s creative team. The book will be written by Girls creator Lena Dunham, whose 2026 memoir Famesick debuted at #1 on the New York Times bestseller list. Two-time Grammy nominee and “Call Me Maybe” singer Carly Rae Jepsen will write the music and lyrics. Both Dunham and Jepsen shared the news on their Instagram Monday, capturing the announcement with “class begins one year from today.”
If it’s feeling a bit like adaptations all the way down, you’re not wrong. The upcoming musical is based on the cult classic 1999 romcom of the same name, which takes Shakespeare’s famous play The Taming of the Shrew and drops its characters straight into a California high school. Directed by Gil Junger and written by Karen McCullah Lutz and Kirsten Smith, 10 Things I Hate About You follows straight shooter Kat Stratford (Julia Stiles), a senior at a California who’s ready to graduate and has no time for shenanigans or engaging with her classmates. When new student Cameron James (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) finds out he can’t date Kat’s sister Bianca Stratford (Larisa Oleynik) unless Kat also dates, he enlists the help of the school outcast Patrick Verona — played by the late Heath Ledger.
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Sure, the movie wasn’t nominated for anything bigger than an MTV movie award. But the sheer number of memorable moments, including Ledger’s bleacher serenade of “Can’t Take My Eyes Off You,” and Stiles’ tearful reading of the poem “10 Things I Hate About You,” turned the film into a cult phenomenon.
In January 2025, Stiles told People that the film is still what people recognize her from the most — and said she loved its ongoing legacy. “I read 10 Things I Hate About You and Kat Stratford was like this feisty outspoken girl who did not care what people thought about her,” Stiles said. “It meant a lot to me to be in that movie and that it resonates with people still is so great.”
