A Degas Sculpture Inspires a New Musical

“Dressed Ballet Dancer (Petite Danseuse de Quatorze Ans).”

The songwriting team of Lynn Ahrens and Stephen Flaherty, Tony Award winners for “Ragtime,” will collaborate with the Tony-winning director Susan Stroman (“The Producers”) on the world premiere of the new musical “Little Dancer” in October 2014 at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, the center announced Wednesday.

The show, a blend of fact and fiction set in the backstage world of the Paris Opera Ballet, is inspired by the sculpture of a young French ballerina that Edgar Degas made in the late 19th century. According to the Kennedy Center press notes, the musical is the story of the ballerina Marie, on the cusp of womanhood, as she is “torn by her family’s poverty, her debt to the artist, and the lure of wealthy men.”

The music is by Mr. Flaherty and the lyrics and book are by Ms. Ahrens; their most recent collaboration was on the new musical adaption of “Rocky,” which has been running in Hamburg, Germany, since the fall. Ms. Stroman is now directing the Chicago tryout of the Broadway-bound musical “Big Fish.” The Kennedy Center worked with Ms. Ahrens and Mr. Flaherty in 2009 on its revival of “Ragtime,” which subsequently transferred to Broadway for a short-lived run of three months.

The songwriters had been working on the musical before the Kennedy Center became involved; its president, Michael M. Kaiser, decided to produce it after a closed-door workshop of “Little Dancer” last summer.

The original sculpture is part of the Degas collection on display at the National Gallery of Art in Washington.