Rocky The Musical doesn’t sound like it should be a success, but it would appear that Sylvester Stallone has a pretty canny knack of getting the commercial best out of the long running franchise, and so it would appear true once again with news that the show will be gracing Broadway.

The production has already made its debut, having run in Hamburg over in Germany last year, but now it will be stepping up to arguably the biggest theatrical stage of them all with a run on Broadway. The show is expected to begin a stint at the Winter Garden Theatre from February next year, according to the BBC. The musical has been co-produced by Stallone himself, though he’s been aided by the slightly bizarre teaming of Wladimir and Vitali Klitschko, who both have production credits too. The Ukrainian heavyweight boxers hold all four major World heavyweight titles between and they were brought onto production largely to help train the actors in movement and positioning for their roles, in order to make the choreography as authentic as possible.

Of the Klitschko involvement Bill Taylor sad "This is not boxers doing a kick line," the managing director of co-producers Stage Entertainment USA adding. "It's stunning movement representing some of the sparring and the fighting. It's very, very cleverly created." The script has been written by Thomas Meehan, who can list the stage versions of The Producers and Hairspray to his credit.

Sylvester Stallone

Stallone has kept the Rocky franchise alive through four decades