Sabrina Carpenter Leads a Daring Musical Reimagining of a 19th-Century Classic
Sabrina Carpenter is diving down the rabbit hole, starring in and producing a new Universal musical inspired by the 19th-century classic Alice in Wonderland—her latest high-profile collaboration with the studio.
File this under moves that make total sense: Sabrina Carpenter is turning Alice into a song-and-dance thing, and she is putting her producer hat on too. Universal is backing a new musical take on Lewis Carroll's 1865 classic, with a filmmaker who knows her way around sharp character work and needle drops.
So what is this version of Alice?
It is a fresh musical adaptation of Carroll's Victorian-era fever dream about a girl who falls down a rabbit hole into a world that keeps getting stranger the more you look at it. We have seen big swings at this story before (Disney's 1951 animated film and Tim Burton's 2010 live-action version), but this one is being built as a star vehicle for Carpenter with new songs and a modern creative team.
Who is making it
- Sabrina Carpenter: starring as Alice and producing
- Lorene Scafaria: writing and directing; she helmed 2019's Hustlers, has directed episodes of HBO's Succession, and wrote Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist; she also scored a best director nomination at the Independent Spirit Awards for Hustlers
- Producers: Marc Platt (Wicked), Leslie Morgenstein, and Elysa Koplovitz Dutton (Alloy Entertainment, the banner behind Gossip Girl and Pretty Little Liars)
- Universal oversight: Ryan Jones (senior vice president of production development) and Jacqueline Garell (director of production)
- Marc Platt Productions: Katie McNicol is managing the project there
How it came together
According to the trade report, this started as a passion play from Carpenter. In 2024, she took a concept and a full lookbook to Universal. The studio sparked to it, producers came aboard, and Scafaria signed on to write and direct as the idea evolved into a full-on musical feature.
Why now for Carpenter
The timing lines up with her current hot streak. The announcement follows what the report describes as six nominations for the 68th Annual Grammy Awards, including album of the year and record of the year for her album Man's Best Friend. On the acting side, she continues to rack up credits and recognition, from The Hate U Give and Emergency to her breakout TV run on Girl Meets World.
Where things stand
Universal has not announced the rest of the cast or a release window yet. For now, the takeaway is simple: Carpenter brought the idea in, Scafaria is crafting it, Marc Platt and Alloy are producing, and Alice is headed for a musical makeover. More as it comes together.