Fyre Festival: Musical planned for Rita Ora and Taika Waititi's scandalous event

Berlin. Luxury was promised, but in the end, visitors had to sleep in makeshift tents and were given sandwiches to eat – now the events surrounding the scandalously failed Fyre music festival are to be told in a musical. As the US industry publication "The Hollywood Reporter" reported, British singer Rita Ora ("For You," 34) and New Zealand Hollywood director Taika Waititi ("Thor: Love and Thunder," 50) are working on a musical titled "Fyre Fest The Musical." It will retell the life of founder Billy McFarland.

"I find the idea exciting, strange, and potentially catastrophic—which is kind of fitting and exactly the way I like to work," Waititi was quoted as saying in the report. The director and his wife, Ora, are set to produce the musical, and Bryan Buckley, who has been nominated twice for an Oscar for his short films, is set to direct. It was not immediately clear when rehearsals would begin and the musical would premiere.

In 2017, the festival in the Bahamas, which was supposed to attract thousands of celebrities and influencers, was cut short. Models Kendall Jenner and Bella Hadid, among others, had advertised the tickets, which cost up to $100,000. However, the festival attendees were then housed in makeshift tents and given only cheap sandwiches to eat. Following the fiasco in the Bahamas, McFarland was sentenced to six years in prison for fraud in 2018, but was released early after almost four years. The Netflix documentary "Fyre: The Greatest Party That Never Happened" was nominated for four Emmy Awards in 2019.

In February, McFarland announced the revival of the festival for May 30 to June 2, 2025, on Isla Mujeres, off the coast of the resort town of Cancún. "Fyre Festival 2 is coming to life," the 33-year-old said in a February announcement posted on the X platform. Ticket packages for up to one million US dollars were offered. However, the responsible city administration announced shortly thereafter that the organizers had not contacted the authorities. Reportedly, the festival was to be relocated to the resort town of Playa del Carmen – and was then postponed altogether in April.

The website “fyre.mx” now states that the festival has a new owner and that an announcement will be made in the third quarter of 2025 – i.e. by the end of this month.

RND/dpa