A new stage musical of The Ghost & Mrs. Muir has its creative team: book and lyrics by Peter Sham, music by Kevin Purcell and direction by Kenneth Hoyt. Workshops in the US and London follow in 2027, with a West End production the goal for 2028.
The Ghost & Mrs. Muir is being turned into a musical, and the team behind it was named today. Peter Sham writes the book and lyrics. Kevin Purcell composes the score. Kenneth Hoyt directs and also acts as story consultant.
There is nothing to book yet. The show is in development, with workshops planned in the United States and in London during 2027. The target after that is a West End production in 2028.
The source is the 1945 novel by Josephine Leslie, who wrote it under the pen name R.A. Dick. Most people know the story from the 1947 Hollywood film with Rex Harrison and Gene Tierney, or from the Emmy-winning television series that followed in 1968.
The action takes place in the early 1900s. Lucy Muir is a young widow who will not live the life society has planned for her. She moves with her child to Gull Cottage, an isolated house on the English coast, in search of a quiet fresh start. She does not get one. The cottage still belongs, in spirit at least, to Captain Daniel Gregg, a gruff sea captain who has no intention of giving it up. What starts as a battle over the house becomes a friendship, then a love affair between the living and the dead.
Hoyt said: "I have known all these years that there is a lush and sweeping musical lurking in the pages of the novel. It is a period piece, yes, and I do think it holds a sort of classicism in its DNA, but at its heart it is a love story, albeit a haunted one. It has an illustrious history, and a stage version seems a natural fit."
Sham's earlier work includes Lend Me A Tenor: The Musical at the Gielgud Theatre and Sherlock Holmes and the Great Royal Goose Chase at the HHP Playhouse. Purcell's credits include Rebecca: The Musical for Magnormos and The Stranger from Seville at the Pearl Theatre Space. Hoyt directed The Blue Hour of Natalie Barney at the Arcola Theatre and The Sea Plays at the Old Vic Tunnels.
It is not the only Sham and Purcell musical on its way. The pair are in the final stages of bringing their adaptation of To Catch A Thief to the West End.
For more information, visit the official website.
