Is a Nirvana musical coming to Broadway?

FRANK MICELOTTA/Getty Images

Is a Nirvana musical coming to Broadway?
(Image credit: FRANK MICELOTTA/Getty Images)

It's been 20 years since Nirvana lead singer Kurt Cobain died, and his widow Courtney Love is commemorating the anniversary with a surprising announcement.

In an interview with NME, Love announced that she and the couple's daughter, Frances Bean Cobain, would fully support a Broadway-style production based on Kurt Cobain's life and work as long as "the right people" were involved.

Love originally resisted the idea when it was first suggested in 2012, but in an unlikely move, the grunge band's loyal fans have convinced her that Broadway is the way to go. An outpouring of support on social media was enough to make Love and her daughter change their minds.

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Love told NME that one of her biggest motivations for backing a show is to share the story "that hasn't been told before" and to give her and Cobain's daughter, who is 21, an opportunity to experience her father's life and legacy. "I know her father's spirit will be on that stage, and sitting in that theater with her will be the most emotional experience of our lives," Love said.

As someone who detests musicals and loves Nirvana, I can't help but think the whole Nirvana on Broadway idea is doomed. Would any true Nirvana fan want Nevermind becoming the next Wicked? Or risk "Come as You Are" resembling some peppy, Glee-inspired song-and-dance? How painful is it to think of a high school theater club energetically belting out the lyrics to "About a Girl"? Maybe the story "that hasn't been told before" involves Kurt Cobain's secret obsession with Guys and Dolls and Oklahoma! — but it all seems a bit out of character.

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Kaitlin Roberts is the TheWeek.com's web intern. She has worked for StoryCorps and American Documentary and is a graduate of Davidson College.