Hee Haw On Broadway

It's not a joke! Country Music's beloved variety show is headed to Broadway in New York City.

Developer Steve Buchanan, head of Opry Entertainment that owns the Grand Ole Opry and the force behind ABC's Nashville, left quite an impression on Broadway producers according to the New York Post. GACTV reports the script is by Robert Horn, who wrote the musical 13 with Jason Robert Brown. Music and lyrics are by top Nashville songwriters Shane McAnally and Brandy Clark.

Hee Haw : The Musical is expected to open in the Spring of 2015. Unlike the zany skits on the television show, the musical will be a story about a woman from Kornfield Kounty and her boyfriend, destined to be married but not until she sees the world first. There are plans to include characters made famous from the TV show, including Grandpa Jones, Misty Rowe, Lulu Roman and Junior Samples.

Now, before the Broadway snobs start predicting gloom and doom, Michael Riedel of the New York Post makes it clear that this could be a smash hit!

"And before you say, “Oh, God, Broadway is really scraping the bottom of the moonshine barrel,” let me add that a bunch of heavy-hitting producers who saw a reading of it last month say they had the time of their lives.

“I haven’t laughed so hard since I saw ‘Book of Mormon,’ ” one of them told me.

“It was kick-ass,” said another. “Everybody left on a high, it was so much fun.”"

Although Hee Haw may be stereotyped as a show that may only appeal to seniors, the writers will certainly have an attraction to the new generation of Country Music fans. Shane McAnnally has penned hits like 'Kiss Tomorrow Goodbye' for Luke Bryan, 'Somewhere With You' by Kenny Chesney, 'Downtown' for Lady Antebellum and 'Better Dig Two' for The Band Perry. Brandy Clark credits include 'Mama's Broken Heart' for Miranda Lambert, 'Follow Your Arrow' by Kacey Musgraves, several co-writes with McAnnally, and cuts by Reba McEntire, Keith Urban, Darius Rucker, LeAnn Rimes and others.

The picture above features the remaining living members of the original television show, and special musical guests, on Country's Family Reunion Salute To The Kornfield taped in 2011 for RFD-TV.