Goal! BEND IT LIKE BECKHAM Heads to the West End This Spring

According to the Daily Mail, after holding workshops last fall with Samantha Barks as 'Jules' and Tara Divina as 'Jess', the new BEND IT LIKE BECKHAM musical is officially headed to the West End's Phoenix Theatre. Previews will begin May 15, with an opening slated for June 24, 2015.

Based on the 2002 movie, BEND IT LIKE BECKHAM features music by Howard Goodall and lyrics by Charles Hart, with direction by Gurinder Chadha (who also directed and co-wrote the film version).

Talking about the development process, Chadha told the Mail: "What's really crystal-clear is that all three of us know when it's on the money, and when it's not on the money." Chadha decided early on to be direct with the composer/lyricist team about her criticisms, which has given the trio "a very great rhythm," according to Goodall.

Frances Ruffelle, Shobna Gulati, Preeya Kalidas and Richard Fleeshman were also part of the workshop cast last year. No word yet on who will star in the West End, but BroadwayWorld will keep you posted as we learn more!

The Mail writes that the musical will feature Bhangra music star Kuljit Bharma, with British musicians playing Indian instruments. As BWW 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.

In BEND IT LIKE BECKHAM, the daughter of orthodox Sikh rebels against her parents' traditionalism by running off to Germany with a football team.