'The Time Traveller's Wife' Musical To Premiere In UK

A musical version of the best-selling novel and hit film The Time Traveller's Wife is in the works.

The music is being penned by two music heavyweights - Dave Stewart from the Eurythmics and Joss Stone who recently won The Masked Singer. This will not be Dave Stewarts first dabble with musical theatre - he previously wrote the musical Barbarella as well as the music and lyrics for the musical adaptation of Ghost.

The Time Traveller's Wife features a book by Lauren Gunderson and additional lyrics by Kait Kerrigan. The production will be directed by Bill Buckhurst, with musical supervision & arrangement by Nick Finlow and illusions by Chris Fisher. Casting is by Stuart Burt CDG. It will be produced by Colin Ingram for InTheatre Productions, by special arrangement with Warner Bros. Theatre Ventures.

The musical is set to premiere in the UK in late 2021 or early 2022. The plot is as follows:

Henry and Clare’s love story is like no other and yet like all others; they meet, flirt, fight, love, marry... but all out of order. Henry is often and uncontrollably ripped out of time, because he suffers from a rare condition where his genetic clock periodically resets, pulling him into his past or future, vanishing before one’s eyes, never knowing where or when he’s going next. Except he knows he’ll always come back to Clare, whether she's 5 years old playing in a field or 85, dreaming of her time-travelling husband.

All couples ask how to truly know one another, to trust, to commit, to build a family, to work at something bigger than ourselves. Not all of us are time travellers. How do you love across time?

Lauren Gunderson said of adapting the novel, "I will never forget reading the last chapter of Audrey Niffenegger's book over ten years ago and being floored by its thunderous emotion and potent humanity. I knew this love story belonged on stage with music and vision that matches its emotional punch and soaring feeling. I know this musical will lift, delight, hearten and exhilarate.”

Dave Stewart and Joss Stone said of working together on the new musical, “We have been on many crazy adventures together but we’ve never ‘Time Travelled’ till meeting Lauren Gunderson. Writing these songs together whilst being in different locations on different time zones has been a trip (literally), throwing us into an eddy of emotive melodies and heart-wrenching lyrics to go with the push and pull of this unusual love story. We all time travel in our relationships and in our lives in general, but to write something that people will see and hear happening live on stage is thrilling to imagine, and hearing Bill Buckhurst’s interpretations of Lauren’s script for stage as we went along has been so inspiring.”

Producer Colin Ingram said, “Bringing this book to the stage was my wife’s idea, as, for her and so many others, The Time Traveller’s Wife has been a significant and deeply cherished story. Having Henry constantly appearing and disappearing throughout the story (with his age changing each time, backwards and forwards) requires this stellar creative team, and this show promises to be an incredibly emotional experience for the audience. Lauren’s adaptation is truly wonderful and the soulful sound of Dave and Joss’s music will lift everyone’s spirits as a truly wonderful tonic in post-pandemic world."

This looks like it could be a fantastic new musical. Look out for more information here as it is announced.

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