Paul McCartney has been working on a musical adaptation of It’s a Wonderful Life.
The Beatle has written a song score for a stage musical adaptation of the film classic, it was revealed yesterday (July 17). McCartney has reportedly been working on the project for the past year with writer Lee Hall and British producer Bill Kenwright. Hall – who penned the Rocketman screenplay – is co-writing lyrics with McCartney.
“Writing a musical is not something that had ever really appealed to me,” Macca said in a statement. “But Bill and I met up with Lee Hall and had a chat and I found myself thinking this could be interesting and fun.” He also praised It’s a Wonderful Life as “a universal story we can all relate to.”
According to the New York Post, Kenwright thought immediately of McCartney when he was offered the stage rights by Paramount, and reached out to the Beatle in 2016. Two years later, McCartney sent him the opening song.
The New York Post writer got a sneak peek of McCartney’s work on the musical, calling the demo tracks “stunning”. Apparently, the Beatle performs as every character and “even tries his hand at acting”. There are more than 10 completed songs, and the Post writer highlighted “one spectacular number’s rousing ending [that brings] to mind the ‘Na Na Na Na Na’s of ‘Hey Jude’.”
Variety reports that the production aims to launch in late 2020 in the UK, with a later move to Broadway.