David Bowie Stage Musical In the Works
5/20/2008 By Brock Thiessen

If anyone could actually make musicals cool, it’s David Bowie. Luckily, others out there share similar thoughts. After several attempts, the glam rock legend has finally agreed to lend his songs to the stage, according to the Sun newspaper, allowing renowned director Peter Schaufuss have his theatrical go at Bowie’s sci-fi flick The Man Who Fell to Earth.

Built around a mighty selection of Bowie classics, the stage production will be loosely based on the storyline from the 1976 film, which features Bowie as a humanoid alien looking to ferry his people from his home planet to Earth. The movie also features Bowie developing a mean crush on an Earth girl, a crippling addiction to alcohol and television, and features a frightening shot of Bowie’s alien reproductive organs.

“David has been approached many times with a view of turning his songs into a stage production but he has always said no,” sources tell the Sun. “He guards his legacy carefully and didn’t want a cheesy show tarnishing it. But it was the involvement of Peter that really swung him.”

In the theatre world, Schaufuss is a somewhat legendary figure and widely regarded as one of the best choreographers of his time. He is currently working on the new West End show Divas in London, and plans to launch his Bowie musical in his native Denmark this fall.

There is no word as to whether Schaufuss will attempt to weave Bowie’s ’80s work into the musical, meaning perhaps the Thin White Duke’s greatest dance performance — the “Magic Dance” sequence from Labyrinth — may not make an appearance.

Bowie doin' the “Magic Dance”
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