Rocky musical set to hit Broadway

Sylvester Stallone and boxers Wladimir and Vitali Klitschko are co-producers

A stage musical based on the hit film Rocky is to open on Broadway.

Sylvester Stallone, who starred in and wrote the script for the Oscar-winning 1976 film, is co-producing the theatre version, which will open at the Winter Garden theatre next February.

The show made its debut in Hamburg, Germany, where it was billed as Rocky: Das Musical, last November.

Boxing brothers Wladimir and Vitali Klitschko are also co-producers and helped train the actors in Hamburg.

"This is not boxers doing a kick line," said Bill Taylor, managing director of co-producers Stage Entertainment USA. "It's stunning movement representing some of the sparring and the fighting. It's very, very cleverly created."

The songs have been written by Stephen Flaherty and Lynn Ahrens, who also composed the score for the musical Ragtime.

The show, which stays true to the story of the plucky amateur boxer Rocky Balboa, has a script by Thomas Meehan, who wrote the stage versions of The Producers and Hairspray.

When it opened last year, it was generally well-received by German theatre critics.

It is the latest in a long line of film adaptations to have reached the stage. Shows from Shrek to Spider-Man have appeared on Broadway in recent years.