Filmmaker Billy Luther is adapting his 2007 documentary Miss Navajo into a stage musical, teaming up with singer-songwriter Raye Zaragoza to bring the story to life with songs and lyrics, according to Variety. The project is currently in development.

The original documentary had its world premiere at the 2007 Sundance Film Festival and aired nationally on PBS' Independent Lens the same year. It was Luther's first feature film and the starting point of his career, as his official website describes it. Luther is of Navajo, Hopi and Laguna Pueblo descent, and his own mother was crowned Miss Navajo in 1966.

Miss Navajo follows Crystal Frazier, a 21-year-old woman from near Table Mesa, New Mexico, who doubted her ability to succeed in the Miss Navajo Nation pageant. The five-day competition takes place at the Navajo Nation Fair, where seven contestants are evaluated in events testing their knowledge of Navajo culture and language.

This is no ordinary pageant. It is open to participants who are female, single and older than 18, and it requires skills that would surprise anyone expecting a swimsuit round: shearing, butchering and cooking a sheep over an outdoor fire, knowledge of Navajo legends, and fluency in the Navajo (Diné) language. The competition is less about appearance than about whether a contestant can carry forward the traditions of the Navajo people.

Zaragoza, who is of Akimel O'otham descent, will draw from her existing career catalog as well as new material for the musical. Her songs and lyrics address themes central to the story: Indigenous women, cultural strength, immigration and the environment. The pairing pairs a filmmaker with deep personal roots in the Miss Navajo tradition with a songwriter whose own work has long centred Indigenous experience.

What makes the adaptation worth watching is the distance it travels. The documentary captured a specific young woman at a specific moment of self-doubt on a reservation in New Mexico. A musical expands that frame — song and stage can carry interior feeling that documentary cameras cannot, and Zaragoza's thematic range suggests the score will reach well beyond the pageant itself.

Nineteen years separate the Sundance premiere from this announcement. In that time, Luther has continued as a filmmaker; the Miss Navajo pageant has continued as an institution. The musical now in development will be the first time the two meet on a stage.