This might be a terrific Broadway musical - "Ray" to become musical

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Ray meet the Great White Way.

The producers of last year's critically hailed Ray Charles biopic, which garnered star Jamie Foxx an Oscar, have Broadway on their mind.

Ray principals Stuart Benjamin and Howard and Karen Baldwin have secured the stage rights to Charles' life story and greatest hits from the late icon's estate and Ray Charles Enterprises for a musical production that's part biography, part revue.

According to the Hollywood trades, the Ray brain trust want to incorporate Charles' best loved tunes, including "Georgia on My Mind," "You Don't Know Me," "Hit the Road Jack," "Unchain My Heart," "I Can't Stop Loving You," "What'd I Say" and his soulful take on "America the Beautiful."

Neither Foxx nor director Taylor Hackford will be involved in the project, which is being produced by Benjamin Prods., Baldwin Entertainment and Charlies' longtime manager, Joe Adams.

The musical will intersperse dramatic vignettes of Charles' life from his impoverished youth and his blindness at age seven to his coronation as the Genius for his genre-defying blend of gospel, soul, R&B, rock, jazz, country and pop and his emergence as a champion of civil rights.

But unlike the film, which delved deeply into the artists' failed relationships and his drug addictions, the stage version will be more of a tribute.

"This will be more of the warmth and the personality of Ray, as well as some of the anecdotes and stories that weren't in the movie," Benjamin told the Hollywood Reporter.

Benjamin spent 15 years bringing Ray to the big screen. And when it finally did arrive in theaters last fall, the movie grossed $75 million at the box office and scored six Oscar nominations, winning two-- Best Actor for Foxx and another for Best Sound.

"The phenomenal success of Ray speaks to just how deeply Ray Charles' work touched the world, and, just as in the genius' performing career, people have been clamoring for more," Howard Baldwin said in a statement. "The stage is a natural home for this material, and our collaborators are top-notch."

No word yet when the musical premiere. Producers are currently searching for a playwright to get cracking on the musical's book.

The Baldwins most recently oversaw production on Sahara and are currently hard at work developing a biopic on baseball legend Jackie Robinson. Baldwin produced both Ray soundtrack CDs, as well as the TV special Genius: A Night for Ray Charles. His other credits include La Bamba and Everybody's All American.

While Charles died last June from liver disease at age 73, the Rock and Roll Hall of Famer's legacy endures. Aside from the hit film and budding Broadway musical, his posthumous duets album, Genius Loves Company, debuted atop the Billboard charts last summer and earned a record-tying eight Grammys in February. His manager and a group of investors are also working on turning his legendary recording studios in downtown Los Angeles into a museum dedicated to his life and music.

The Ray musical is the latest in a string of Broadway productions based on the songs of a hit performer. Billy Joel's Movin' Out and ABBA's Mamma Mia! continue to play to packed houses, and the Elvis-centric All Shook Up recently opened to solid reviews and good box office. Also on the horizon: Lennon, based on the music and life of the late Beatle, a stage version of Pink Floyd's The Wall and the Johnny Cash-based Ring of Fire.

Of course, just basing a musical on a famous artist doesn't guarantee ticket sales. Not even the sun-baked hits of the Beach Boys could save Good Vibrations from going up in flames--the widely panned musical was shuttered after just 94 performances.