Sundance to adapt ‘Little Miss Sunshine,’ ‘Like Water for Chocolate’ as stage musicals

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The quirky low-budget comedy film ‘Little Miss Sunshine’ and the 1989 Laura Esquivel novel ‘Like Water for Chocolate’ are this year’s choices to be adapted as stage musicals at the annual Sundance Institute Theatre Lab at White Oak in Yulee, Fla., the institute is expected to announce on Tuesday.

‘Little Miss Sunshine’ -- based on the film that premiered at Sundance in 2006 and netted a best supporting actress Oscar nomination for its young star, Abigail Breslin -- has music and lyrics by William Finn and direction by James Lapine. Finn and Lapine are frequent collaborators, perhaps best known for ‘Falsettos.’

‘Like Water for Chocolate’ is composed by Lila Downs and Paul R. Cohen, based in Mexico City, with book by playwright Quiara Alegria Hudes, a Pulitzer finalist for her book of the musical ‘In the Heights,’ which won the 2008 Tony Award for best musical. The film version of the novel premiered at Sundance in 1991.

-- Diane Haithman