SPICE GIRLS Musical to Get Second Shot at West End Run?

According to UK's THE TELEGRAPH, the critically panned stage musical VIVA FOREVER!, featuring the music of the Spice Girls may be given a second shot at success. The paper reports that the show's producer, Judy Craymer has revealed that she is considering having the show "fixed and re-staged," before reviving it on the West End.

"Oh yes, I'm sure Viva! will rise again at some point," Craymer commented at a special performance of her recently re-cast show Mamma Mia! "It can be worked on. It was heartbreaking that we had to close it." She continues, "I wouldn't say there weren't faults with it, but I love the Spice Girls, and, when you are thinking about a subject to write a musical about, I think that the Spice girls have earned a place on our landscape."

VIVA FOREVER, with a book by Jennifer Saunders, was universally panned by critics and saw weekly box office grosses take a swift and sharp decline over the six months it played on the West End. However the producer still believes it was not a complete fiasco. "Audiences had a good time. It wasn't Mamma Mia! but I wasn't trying for it to be Mamma Mia! It was meant to be more the combination of Jennifer [Saunders], and comedy with a wink at pop culture. "

She also thanked the Spice Girls themselves for their support throughout the show's breif run. "They understand the ups and downs of showbusiness, but then they have had a lot of knocks themselves and they are still here," she commented.

VIVA FOREVER! was billed as a feel-good musical comedy inspired by the music of the Spice Girls. Charting the trials and tribulations of wannabe girlband Eternity, the musical told an original story as it hurls the audience headfirst into the final rounds of TV talent show Starmaker, where a panel of fame vultures passes judgment on our wannabe heroines while desperately clinging to the limelight themselves.

VIVA FOREVER! was directed by Paul Garrington and choreographed by Lynne Page. The production closed in June.