Taika Waititi and Rita Ora are developing a stage musical based on the notorious Fyre Festival, the ill-fated 2017 event that left influencers stranded in the Bahamas and its founder, Billy McFarland, behind bars.
The music festival that promised luxury villas, gourmet meals, and blink-and-you-miss-them celebrity selfies – but delivered cheese sandwiches and chaos – is getting a second act.
The production, titled Fyre Fest The Musical, will be a musical comedy tracing McFarland’s rise and spectacular fall.
In 2018, McFarland pleaded guilty to multiple counts of fraud and later served time in federal prison.
His disastrous festival became the subject of dueling documentaries on Netflix and Hulu, cementing its place in pop culture as a generation-defining debacle.
Filmmaker Bryan Buckley – best known for his wry Super Bowl commercials – will direct the show and pen its book.
Oscar- and Grammy-winning songwriter Paul Epworth is onboard to compose the score, while celebrated designer David Korins (Hamilton) will create the set.
Waititi, who won an Oscar for Jojo Rabbit, and Ora, international pop sensation and Waititi’s partner, are producing alongside Buckley’s Hungry Man Productions and Matthew Weaver.
In a statement to The Hollywood Reporter, Waititi said: ‘Working in the theater is always fun. I mean I haven’t done it for 15 years because it was no longer fun, but I’ve been told it will be fun this time.
‘And I believe them. When Bryan Buckley told me he wanted to make a musical about the Fyre Festival, I said “Who the hell is Bryan Buckley?” I then remembered we’ve been friends and work mates for 15 years so it was kinda hard to say no.’
He continued with his trademark humour: ‘Honestly, I think the idea is exciting, weird, and potentially disastrous, which seems apt and is how I like to work.’
Buckley echoed the sense of absurdity that still clings to Fyre Festival years later: ‘I never saw myself doing a theatrical musical comedy. But then again, I never saw something completely mind-bendingly ridiculous and intriguing as what went down with Fyre Festival.
‘A spectacular failed endeavor—that will haunt a generation forever. I cannot wait to get this show out to the world. And yeah man, this time there will actually be music or your money back.’
While Fyre Fest The Musical has yet to announce whether it’s headed for Broadway or elsewhere, the team is already leaning into spectacle.
On Monday, the production will launch with a publicity stunt: anchoring a 100-foot barge in Brooklyn, accompanied by guerrilla art installations rolling out throughout the week.
If the original Fyre Fest was a masterclass in how not to stage an event, its theatrical retelling may prove that even disaster can be remixed into entertainment.
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