Damon Albarn Writes Cockernee Stage Musical

Musicals. God, how we loathe thee. They’re a bit shit, aren’t they? You may feel that’s not a very intelligent or articulate analysis of an art-form which can be experienced everywhere from the cinemas of India to the stages of Broadway, but since you’re probably the kind of person who likes musicals, we can disregard your feelings with the carefree abandonment of a child. A child who hasn’t been forced to see Miss Saigon.

Right, now that that’s off our chest, we can tell you the news that Damon Albarn is writing a stage musical with playwright Roy Williams. Williams was the man behind the really rather good TV series Babyfather and the ‘we’ve not actually seen it’ play, Fallout.

Damon Albarn (CDs) is a man with many hats. There’s his indie-pop crown from Blur and his blinged-out Fair Trade baseball cap from Gorillaz, for a start. But for his latest project - a stage musical about Notting Hill - Albarn is donning his ‘Maybe It’s Because I’m A Londoner Knees Up Mother Brown’ Pearly King hat. Even though he’s from Colchester. Nicholas Hynter, director of the National Theatre, had this to say on his upcoming musical:

"The piece will be about the diverse culture that is Ladbroke Grove and
Notting Hill. Damon is one of the most unique and inventive musicians
of the moment. We introduced him to Roy Williams and they discovered
Ladbroke Grove in common. They have been working on it for the past nine months and I have been
absolutely thrilled by the stuff they have been producing together. It
will allow Damon to develop his passionate interest in the many musical
styles that have emerged from Notting Hill over the past four decades."

Could this be the most worthy piece of art ever produced? Luckily our
aversion to all things musical  - basically summed up as, “No, people don’t sing in real life,
brain can’t deal with the suspension of disbelief required to enjoy
this - arrggghhhh” - means we won’t have to endure any Albarn musicals.
And don’t even get us started on Ben Elton.

Incidentally - as a footnote - with Damon making world music, hip hop and
now musicals, and Graham Coxon spending 23 hours a day in a darkened
studio knocking out lo-fi punk rock album after album with barely time
to eat, its not that difficult to see where those artistic differences
lay when Coxon left Blur, is it?

Read more:

Albarn finds inspiration for musical in multicultural west London - Independent

[story by Simon Sharp]