Pulitzer-Winning Play ‘Cost of Living’ Will Become a Musical

NEW YORK — “Cost of Living,” Martyna Majok’s intense play about connectedness, caregiving and disability that this year won the Pulitzer Prize for drama, is being adapted into a musical.

The Williamstown Theater Festival, where the play had its first production in 2016, announced Thursday that it has commissioned the musical adaptation from Michael John LaChiusa, the composer of “The Wild Party” and “Marie Christine.” LaChiusa will write the book, music and lyrics; Danny Mefford, the choreographer of “Dear Evan Hansen” and “Fun Home,” has signed on to direct.

LaChiusa said the musical, like the play, will have just four characters, two of whom have disabilities. (In the play, one character has cerebral palsy and one is a double amputee.) He said that actors with disabilities would be cast in any productions of the musical.

“I read it and was smitten with it, and thought it had a lot of potential for music — it has so many layers, and the characters are so soulful,” LaChiusa said. “It’s very beautiful and very provocative — it’s about intimacy, and people trying to find intimacy in spite of all the obstacles in the way.”

The project was the idea of Mandy Greenfield, the Williamstown artistic director, who said she had been aware that Mefford was interested in exploring movement for actors of varying physical abilities. It occurred to her, after “Cost of Living” had an off-Broadway production at Manhattan Theater Club but before it won the Pulitzer, that it might be a candidate for adaptation.

“It came to me, literally in the middle of the night, that it could sing,” she said.

Majok, who is working on two musicals (one an original show about Chernobyl, and one an adaptation that she is not ready to describe), was immediately open to the idea, in part because “Cost of Living” has not yet had other productions as a play. She said it will soon be staged in Poland, where she was born, along with “Ironbound,” her earlier play.

“I was excited about having more life for the play and the story and these people, because you always hope these things last beyond one or two shows,” she said. “I want to extend the life of these characters.”