Samantha Barks, Tara Divina Lead BEND IT LIKE BECKHAM Musical Workshop; Aiming for West End in 2014-15?

According to the Daily Mail, the upcoming musical adaptation of BEND IT LIKE BECKHAM held a developmental workshop last Saturday, October 5. Stage and screen star Samantha Barks played 'Jules' -- who was portrayed by Keira Knightley in the 2002 movie -- alongside Tara Divina as 'Jess' (originated by Parminder Nagra on screen) in the starring role.

Read the original report here.

Frances Ruffelle, Shobna Gulati, Preeya Kalidas and Richard Fleeshman were also part of the workshop cast, directed by Gurinder Chadha, who is also director and co-writer of the film version.

The score is being crafted by composer Howard Goodall (Blackadder, The Vicar of Dibley, Red Dwarf, The Hired Man, Love Story) and lyricist Charles Hart. Book is being written by Chadha and her husband, Paul Mayeda Berges. Choregrapher Lynne Page has also signed on to the project.

No word yet on whether the workshop cast will be moving on with the production. The workshop was kept very hush-hush to avoid too much early attention on the musical, especially given the film's broad fan-base.

As BroadwayWorld previously reported, the creative team plans to include some Punjabi and Hindi slang terms, as well as a mesh of Hindi and English-"Hinglish"-in the show.

BEND IT LIKE BECKHAM is aiming to open late next year or early 2015 in the West End.

LES MISERABLES film star Barks starred this summer in The Hollywood Bowl production of CHICAGO. She has also appeared in LES MISERABLES in the West End, as well as the UK tours of CABARET and OLIVER!.

Photo Credit: Walter McBride