Damon Albarn’s musical will be ‘a little controversial’
2 July 2015
From the section Entertainment & Arts
Singer Damon Albarn has predicted his Alice in Wonderland-inspired musical will prove “a little controversial” when it opens in Manchester later.
The Blur front man has written the music for Wonder.land, which kicks off the Manchester International Festival.
He told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme the story was “very different” from the original, written by Lewis Carroll.
In this version, Alice becomes Aly and falls into a strange online world rather than a rabbit hole.
Asked how the story differed from the original, Albarn replied: “I can’t tell you that… but it’s bound to be a little controversial.”
Albarn (right) has created the show with Moira Buffini and Rufus Norris
Playwright Moira Buffini has written the lyrics for Wonder.land, which is directed by the National Theatre’s artistic director, Rufus Norris.
Albarn admitted he was nervous about the opening of the show, which is his first stage musical.
Speaking about creating it, he said: “Sometimes you feel suicidal. Sometimes you feel euphoric.
“Sometimes nothing in the world makes any sense any more. Sometimes the elation is hard to suppress. And this all happens in a day.”
The music he has written, he said, was “pretty strange in a hopefully joyous way”, adding: “It’s not conventional.”
Wonder.land features all the original characters, but many have been reinvented
…read more
Source:: BBC Entertainment
