Next Up From Cameron Mackintosh: 2011's BETTY BLUE EYES

The U.K.'s Daily Mail reports that producing maestro Cameron Mackintosh is developing a new Musical based on the film A Private Affair, renamed Betty Blue Eyes. The musical adaptation has been named in honor of the Queen of England and porker.  It will be performed for her upcoming Queen's Diamond Juibilee celebration.

Says Mackintosh in the Daily Mail: "The title is in honour of our lovely Queen. Well, they are both catalysts of the story. We have the marriage of Elizabeth and Philip - and our heroine, the pig, is Betty Blue Eyes. I haven't checked the Queen's eye colour recently, but they're rumoured to be blue."

Her eyes are, in fact, blue.  

Like the film, the musical will be set in post-war England tells the story of a small town organising a street party to celebrate the nuptials of Princess Elizabeth and Philip. However, rationing is in effect and people are forced to hide the porker despite it's being the centrepiece of the feast.

To read the full report in the Daily Mail, click here.

The show has been adapted by George Stiles and Anthony Drewe, who wrote the music and lyrics after being commissioned by Ron Cowen and Daniel Lipman, control the rights to the original screenplay.

Petty Blue Eyes will begin rehearsals in early 2011, play the West Yorkshire Playhouse for a four-week run and then transfer into one of his West End theatres around Easter of that year. The Queen's Diamond Jubilee is kicks-off the following year. 

Announcements concerning a director and creative team members are forthcoming, although Mackintosh promises that pigs will be on stage.

One of the most successful theatrical producers of all time, Mackintosh is the producer behind such classics as Phantom of the Opera, Les Miserables, Mary Poppins, Miss Saigon, Cats, and Follies.

Photo Credit: Walter McBride

 

 

 

 

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