Battle of the New er, Old Romantics

Eighties legends Duran Duran and Spandau Ballet renew their rivalry in war of West End musicals

THEY were the New Romantic heart-throbs who went shoulderpad to shoulder-pad against each other in the 1980s.

Now Duran Duran and Spandau Ballet are vying for supremacy once more – not in the pop music charts this time but on the West End stage.

Both groups are bringing their stories to the theatre in rival shows, The Mail on Sunday can reveal.

To celebrate the 40th anniversary of the release of To Cut A Long Story Short, their first chart entry, Spandau Ballet are putting together a jukebox musical with many of their hit songs.

The show will chart their career, starting with their teenage years in north London, and early forays into music at the Blitz nightclub during the dying days of punk and the birth of the New Romantic scene.

But as well as recounting their rise to fame on both sides of the Atlantic thanks to smash hits such as Gold, the show will also feature their later troubles.

The band went through an acrimonious fallout in 1999 when frontman Tony Hadley, saxophone player Steve Norman and drummer John Keeble sued guitarist and songwriter Gary Kemp, who they claimed had agreed would share the royalties.

Kemp, 59, whose brother Martin is the group’s bassist and also a former star of EastEnders, denied the claim and won the case.

The band members were reconciled and five years ago they decided to tour again, but Hadley quit last year.

The show is being directed by Terry Johnson, who was also in charge of End Of The Rainbow, the musical life story of Judy Garland. Sources close to the band say that Johnson signed his contract earlier this month and now the search is under way for the most suitable theatre in central London.

‘This is the icing on the cake for the band,’ says a friend of the group, who have sold 25million records worldwide. ‘They have had their ups and downs but what they’ve achieved as a band is so special to them.’

Meanwhile, Duran Duran, who have sold 100million records globally, have recently completed the first draft of a stage musical which they hope will go to the West End next year.

It has been written by band members Nick Rhodes, 56, and Roger Taylor, 58, who have been working on it between touring commitments. A source told the MoS: ‘They have been working on this script for a while, and the first draft was finished last month.

‘Now it’s all systems go to get it out there and into the theatre. It’s all new material this time, a bit more up to date and very arty.’

It is understood that both bands are also looking to eventually take their shows to Broadway. Having managed to crack the notoriously tough American market in the 1980s, both bands have retained a dedicated following in the US.

Duran Duran toured there earlier this year, while Spandau Ballet completed an eight-date comeback tour in America in 2015.

‘They’ve finished a script – now it’s all systems go’