Carly Rae Jepsen Just Landed The Perfect Gig

Some would say that being a beloved pop singer/songwriter is already a dream job, but that doesn’t mean you can’t chase new, different dreams now and then. Like Broadway! For Carly Rae Jepsen, however, Broadway is a mountain she’s already climbed, back in 2014 when she took over the title role in Rodgers & Hammerstein’s Cinderella. Now she’s set to return to the Great White Way in a different capacity: She’s co-writing the score for the upcoming 10 Things I Hate About You musical adaptation.

Not only was it one of the seminal teen movies of my generation, 10 Things I Hate About You also had an incredible soundtrack, boasting tracks from iconic late-’90s bands like Letters To Cleo and The Cardigans. Though Jepsen came onto the music scene a decade later, her music has always been a clear descendant of that peak girl-rock era. Her best songs are often rooted in familiar experiences — waiting for a crush to phone, exhausting your friends with your love troubles, even masturbation — with clever lyrics that are as funny as they are emotionally honest. With her knack for transforming real life into catchy tunes, translating an iconic Millennial rom-com heroine like Kat Stratford into song ought to be a cinch.

She’ll be scoring the musical alongside Ethan Gruska, a singer/writer/producer who collaborated with Jepsen on her most recent album, “The Loveliest Time,” as well as with artists like Phoebe Bridgers, Remi Wolf, and SZA.

Lena Dunham will also make her Broadway debut with this musical, co-writing the book alongside award-winning playwright Jessica Huang. And while I know people have lots of opinions about Dunham, let’s face it: 10 Things I Hate About You is an adaptation of Shakespeare’s The Taming of The Shrew. As far as source material goes, that’s about the finest pedigree you could ask for. Dunham literally has a map and a guide to help her through this. She’ll be fine! The one to worry about is whichever poor soul has to perform the “Can’t Take My Eyes Off You” number, because how do you follow Heath Ledger? He defined sexy for an entire generation just by prancing on some steps.

The only Broadway trend rivaling movie-to-musical adaptations these days is the jukebox musical, where the story is constructed around pre-existing songs. If 10 Things I Hate About You is a success, could Jepsen use the experience to launch her own jukebox musical based on her catalog? Because I’d pay to see “Call Me Maybe: The Musical,” and I know I’m not alone.