Vegas Bets on 'Duck Dynasty' Musical Extravaganza

Not since Mel Brooks' fictionalized "Springtime for Hitler" has a musical potentially offended more gays and Jews.

The Robertson clan of TV's "Duck Dynasty," famous for their long beards and infamous for their hard line evangelical Christian views and harder line anti-gay rhetoric, are trading in their camouflage for sequins, their boots for tap shoes and their duck callers for power ballads.

According to The New York Times, this February "The Duck Commander Family Musical" is set to shoot up the stage at the Rio Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas. The 90-minute show, will feature actors playing the family members from A&E's "Duck Dynasty" as they celebrate the family's long history from rags to riches. The musical will be based on the 2012 book by Willie and Korie Robertson, "The Duck Commander Family: How Faith, Family, and Ducks Built a Dynasty."

But how will this all play out with an industry where both the creatives and money people are largely either liberal, gay, jewish - or all three? After all, it wasn't long ago, that patriarch Phil Robertson called AIDS "God's punishment for homosexual behavior."

"The show will end up challenging the views and assumptions of people across the political spectrum, more than most theater does," said Michael David, producer of the Broadway mega hit, "Jersey Boys," who is developing the show. David added that "theater shouldn't be limited to telling stories about people you resemble or revere,"

And how do the Robertsons feel about working along showbiz sodomites?

"We've enjoyed the process of making a musical alongside the team who is interested in telling the Robertson family story from an outside perspective," Willie Robertson, chief executive of the Robertson company Duck Commander, told the Times.

The show will be directed by Tony Award-winning Broadway veteran, Jeff Calhoun, who is both married and gay. According to Joe My God, Calhoun and the Robertsons have "agreed to disagree" on gay issues.

News of the Duck Dynasty musical comes a year after family patriarch Phil Robertson made inflammatory anti-gay comments in an interview with GQ Magazine, which lead to his brief suspension from the reality show.

Variety notes that while "Duck Dynasty" has brought in huge ratings for cable channel A&E, it has seen a 46% decline in viewership from its season five premiere.