Paul McCartney has revealed he’s working on his first musical project.
The former Beatle is currently putting the pieces in place for a musical stage adaptation of Frank Capra’s Christmas classic It’s A Wonderful Life, which was based on Philip Van Doren Stern’s short story The Greatest Gift.
Macca has teamed up with theatre and film producer Bill Kenwright for the project, with Kenwright initially approaching McCartney with his ideas for the adaptation three years ago after he acquired the rights to the 1946 film.
While Kenwright will produce the show, McCartney has been working on the lyrics with screenwriter and playwright Lee Hall.
McCartney says: “Like many of these things, this all started with an email. Bill had asked if it was something I might be up for. Writing a musical is not something that had ever really appealed to me, but Bill and I met up with Lee Hall and had a chat and I found myself thinking this could be interesting and fun.
"It’s A Wonderful Life is a universal story we can all relate to.”
Kenwright adds: “Working with Paul on It’s A Wonderful Life is a dream realised. To be honest, I was hooked on first hearing him say, ‘one, two, three, four’ on the demo of the opening number!
"But since then it’s been an extraordinary journey – on every song I experience Paul’s unique gift of melody and composition. It’s musical theatre – but it’s always McCartney.
“Paul, Lee, and I use the word ‘cherish’ when we refer to our source material and that’s what we intend to do. Cherish Frank Capra’s creation.”
It’s A Wonderful Life is set to launch in late 2020 on a date still to be finalised.
