MONTY PYTHON's Terry Jones and Jim Steinman's NUTCRACKED to Make NY Premiere, Christmas 2013?

According to Classic Rock Magazine, Monty Python's Terry Jones is collaborating with composer and lyricist Jim Steinman on a musical adaptation of Tchaikovsky's The Nutcracker Suite, called Nutcracked Jones said he is hoping for a Christmas 2013 opening in New York.

Steinman posted on his web site that Nutcracked has been "a source of love and joy and massive creativity for me from the start. I'm as proud of it as anything I've ever done."

Read the full report here.

As the show's lyricist, Steinman has written 15 new songs that will feature a mixture of rock and classical tunes, all based on Tchaikovsky's originals. He collaborated with Steve Margoshes on new arrangements. Elva Corrie (Bat Out Of Hell) co-produces.

Jones, who wrote the show's book, directed a recent reading of Nutcracked in New York that he said "went really well".

In addition to his Monty Python fame and contributions to the "Holy Grail" stage spin-off Spamalot, Terry Jones appeared in The Mermaid Frolics in 1977.

Composer, lyricist and producer Jim Steinman's theatre credits include Dance of the Vampires, Footloose, More Than You Deserve, Neverland and Whistle Down the Wind, as well as the rock opera he penned in college called Dream Engine. He produced Meat Loaf's Bat Out Of Hell and Back Into Hell albums, and has worked with the likes of Bonnie Tyler, Air Supply, The Sisters of Mercy, Barry Manilow, Celine Dion, Boyzone and more.