Starz Developing Series Around Jelly Roll Morton

Starz is turning to turn of the 20th Century New Orleans as it eyes its next drama series entry.

Working with film and theater writer and director George Wolfe and former HBO Films president Colin Callender's Playground Entertainment, the premium network is in development on Storyville, set in the Big Easy of 115 years or so ago, when prostitution was decriminalized and a hedonistic, celebratory subculture emerged, fueling the birth of jazz.

Storyville is based on an original idea by Wolfe, who won three Tony Awards for the 1992 Broadway musical Jelly’s Last Jam, about Jelly Roll Morton, whose career as pianist and composer began in the Crescent City's Storyville district.

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