Wednesday, November 10, 2004

The Smiths Take the Stage

I guess it was only a matter of time. According to nme.com, music of the Smiths are going to be used in a musical. Here's the deal:

The Smiths are the latest band to inspire a new musical.... Written by Smiths fans Andrew Wale and Perrin Manzer - who also created ’Jacques Brel’s Anonymous Society’ a few years ago – have promised something tasteful and not at all like a traditional musical.

According to The Independent, the title of the production will be taken from the Smiths track ’Some Girls Are Bigger Than Others’ and the show will feature more than 20 songs by the band arranged for a string quartet and sung live by a cast of six. Associate producer Michael Brazier said: "Each song has a life of its own but they are connected by the way the performers behave on stage."

Producers have described the Smiths musical as a "film without a text" and initial plans are more opera than theatre. The show will be neither biographical, nor set to a musical score but evolve through a loose pastiche of scenes linked to each of the songs. Video sequences may also be included.

Brazier added: "It is not a linear story. There will be action going on stage whether its dance or movement or acting without words depends on the scene. Sometimes the song - and what the singer is saying in the song - will be the main line of action. But other times when you are concentrating on the singer, out of the corner of your eye you will be seeing impressionistic goings-on elsewhere on the stage. The significance of that (action) will become clear later. The meaning of these clues will gradually reveal themselves."
----------
Yikes.

No comments: