Young Romantics: new musical from Bastille's Dan Smith in development
by Best of Theatre Staff on Friday 24 July 2026, 2:14 pm in Upcoming and New Shows
Melting Pot has announced the development of Young Romantics, a new British musical with music and lyrics by Dan Smith of Bastille, about the fateful summer at the Villa Diodati that inspired Frankenstein and The Vampyre.
Melting Pot has announced the development of Young Romantics, a new British musical with music and lyrics by Dan Smith, the Grammy-nominated and Brit Award-winning singer, songwriter and frontman of Bastille. It is described as a coming-of-age story about five complicated friends chasing creative and romantic freedom – but at what cost?
Set on a dark and stormy night at the Villa Diodati, a grand house on the shores of Lake Geneva, it follows five young and notorious friends – Mary Godwin, Percy Shelley, Lord Byron, Claire Clairmont and Dr John Polidori – caught in a complicated web of love triangles. Exiled from London's polite society and sheltering from terrible storms, the young romantics spend one fateful week together that will have repercussions reaching us today.
When Byron challenges them all to write and share a brand-new horror story, the game sets in motion a dramatic night that changes all of their lives, inspiring the creation of two celebrated works of literature that will outlive them all: Frankenstein and The Vampyre.
Dan Smith said: “The events of that summer are famously fascinating – this collision of huge, young personalities, stuck together inside a big house while storms rage outside – and the more you delve into the story, the wilder and more unbelievable it becomes. Beyond the sex, fame, heartbreak and horror stories lies a deeper exploration of youth on the edge of adulthood, full of hope, creativity, chaos and the desire to escape.”
He added: “These events unfolded over 200 years ago but feel strikingly modern. At the heart of Young Romantics are issues that feel increasingly pressing in 2026: freedom of speech, the right to love who you choose, gender equality, impossible beauty standards, self-representation and artistic integrity.”
Melting Pot producers Simon Friend and Hanna Osmolska said: “We are so thrilled to be working with Dan Smith on his exciting take on the young romantics story. With his band Bastille, Dan is one of the most distinctive voices in British music, and pairing it with a story so thrilling, mysterious and sultry is the kind of artistic creation that drives us.”
With Bastille, Dan Smith has sold over 11 million records, had three number one albums on the UK charts and been streamed more than seven billion times. His screen work includes collaborating with composer Hans Zimmer on the theme and score for the BBC's Planet Earth III, original songs for the Netflix series Kaos and the feature film Bright, and compositions for this year's BAFTA-nominated Nostalgie.
Young Romantics is produced by Simon Friend and Hanna Osmolska for Melting Pot. Further details will be announced soon.