McCain writer says Cindy McCain told of show in 2023, after Meghan McCain says family not 'aware'

The announcement of a new stage musical bearing the name of John McCain seemingly came as a shock to the late senator's family, though a writer for the Ghost of John McCain production tells EW the politician's widow, Cindy McCain, was contacted about the show in the summer of 2023.

After the Arizona politician's daughter, former View personality and current podcast host Meghan McCain, told EW in a statement via her representative that the McCain family "has not authorized it nor was aware of" the musical and that she "was as surprised as everyone else to see the announcement," playwright Scott Elmegreen tells us via phone that Meghan's mother Cindy was previously contacted by someone close to the project.

Elmegreen says the show was initially devised by Grant Woods, the politician's former congressional chief of staff, who died 2021 and is listed on the show's website as a co-writer. Elmegreen says that Woods' wife, Marlene Galán-Woods, was part of a group of people who urged work to continue on the show, and that she contacted Cindy in mid-2023 about the production — which reportedly dramatizes the long-standing feud between the 2008 GOP presidential nominee and former President Donald Trump.

"My [composer] Drew Fornarola and I have done our best to bring [Woods'] vision to life, and to write a musical that captures the spirit of John McCain as he lives on in America's zeitgeist," Elmegreen adds in a follow-up email statement about the show, which is also set to be produced by John's former campaign aide, Max Fose. "We look forward to Meghan seeing our show, and we hope that she enjoys it [as] much as we have enjoyed working on it."

EW has reached out to Meghan for further comment, as well as to Cindy, Galán-Woods, and Ghost of John McCain production company Quixote.

According to the musical's official synopsis, the project "is a serious and satirical musical that compares and contrasts the personal and political journeys of two modern-day mavericks and their long-time feud to redefine the American political landscape," as well as their "their ongoing struggle for the White House."

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