Freaky Friday

Did You Know?

• The premise of a parent swapping bodies with a child was earlier used in F. Anstey's 1882 novel Vice Versa.
• Mary Rodgers wrote two sequels featuring the Andrews family: A Billion for Boris (1974) and Summer Switch (1982).

Plot

A teenage girl named Annabel Andrews, who is stubborn and messy, wakes up on a Friday morning inside her mother's body. The night before, they had a fight. Now in charge of the family's New York household, she has to look after her younger brother Ben, whom she calls "Ape Face" and finds annoyingly tidy. As the day goes on, she becomes worried about the disappearance of "Annabel"—the girl who looked like her that morning but vanished after leaving home. She asks her neighbor and childhood friend Boris for help, but keeps her body-swap secret. Annabel then endures a series of strange, frustrating events, including firing the alcoholic, thieving cleaning woman. Through it all, she starts to appreciate how hard her mother's life is. She discovers that Ben actually looks up to her, and that Boris's real name is Morris, but he has a chronic stuffy nose that makes him pronounce m and n sounds as b and d. Later, Ben also disappears, last seen with a gorgeous girl he seemed to trust. Overwhelmed by the chaos, Annabel finally learns the truth: her mother caused the body swap by some unknown method. The beautiful teenager who took Ben was actually Mrs. Andrews in Annabel's body, made more attractive by a makeover that included removing Annabel's braces—an appointment Annabel had forgotten and would have missed.

Film adaptations

The novel was adapted into a number of films by the Walt Disney Company, spawning the successful titular franchise. Walt Disney Pictures first released the 1976 theatrical film with a screenplay written by Rodgers, starring Barbara Harris and Jodie Foster as Ellen and Annabel Andrews. In 1995, the studio released a second adaptation that premiered on ABC as part of The Wonderful World of Disney, titled Disney's Freaky Friday, starring Shelley Long and Gaby Hoffmann as Ellen and Annabel Andrews; in this version, the characters unintentionally switched bodies by means of magical amulets. Disney later released the 2003 theatrical film starring Jamie Lee Curtis and Lindsay Lohan as Tess and Anna Coleman, who are switched by mystical means through words written on papers within fortune cookies given to them by a meddling elderly Chinese woman. A sequel to the 2003 film, titled Freakier Friday, was released by Disney in 2025, with all main and supporting cast reprising their roles. Disney Channel and Disney Theatrical Productions produced another television film adapting the musical of the same name, which premiered in August 2018, with Heidi Blickenstaff and Cozi Zuehlsdorff portraying the mother and daughter.

Stage musical

An adaptation for a stage musical was developed by Disney Theatrical Productions, with music by Tom Kitt, lyrics by Brian Yorkey, and book and stage-play script by Bridget Carpenter. The musical began performances at the Signature Theatre in Arlington, Virginia on October 4, 2016, directed by Christopher Ashley with choreography by Sergio Trujillo, featuring Emma Hunton, Jason Gotay, and Heidi Blickenstaff. The musical is based on the original Rodgers book as well as the films and is set in present-day Chicago. It later debuted at the La Jolla Playhouse in San Diego on January 31, 2017, followed by runs at Cleveland Play House and the Alley Theatre. Disney Channel released a television film adaptation of the stage musical in summer 2018, with Blickenstaff reprising her role and Cozi Zuehlsdorff starring as the daughter.