Author unveils plan for musical version of detective novels
● Mccall Smith to work with former OMD member on production
Author Alexander Mccall Smith has announced he is to turn one of his most successful creations, the No 1 Ladies Detective Agency, into a musical.
The prolific writer is joining forces with composer and lyricist Graham Weir, a member of 1980s band Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark, on the production.
Mccall Smith, a former law professor, and Weir, who teaches at Edinburgh Napier University, have known each other for years as the author sponsors a composition prize for students.
Their show The No 1 Ladies, announced at the Edinburgh International Book Festival yesterday, is said to be a “work in progress”. However the audience at the sold-out event were given a preview of recordings of four of the songs that are in development.
And the author revealed that talks were under way that would see the show staged on either side of the Atlantic.
News of a musical has been disclosed ahead of the 20th anniversary of the publication of the first book in the series next year.
Mccall Smith had his first major success with the debut of Precious Ramotswe, the founder of Botswana’s first female-run detective agency.
The series, which will see its 18th instalment, The House of Unexpected Sisters, published next month, has generated more than 20 million in sales for the author.
Weir, who has performed as a session horn player with the likes of Van Morrison, Wet Wet Wet, Jack Bruce, Liberty X and Hue and Cry, has taught at Edinburgh Napier since 2001.
Mccall Smith said: “Graham has had a very distinguished musical career, and still does. It’s a very exiting project, which is still in the fairly early stages. We’re having a great time swapping song and story ideas, and the show is shaping up to be something special.
“The situation is quite complicated because the rights to the stage version of the No 1 Ladies Detective Agency are controlled 50 per cent by me and 50 per cent by people in the United States.
“We’re exploring ways of try- ing to get it together and we’re making very good progress.”
On the prospects of the show being staged in America, the author said: “The No 1 Ladies musical will be a celebration of love, friendship and understanding. Those are themes that are very important in the United States. I’m always very struck by how receptive people are to those messages.”
Weir, who said he had “devoured” all the books after starting work on the project, said: “Sandy and I have put our heads together and come up with something we think and hope is going to be popular.
“The key to it is we’re not setting ourselves up against The Lion King. It is much more of a pop musical with African touches and flavours.
“I’ve been sitting with Sandy for hours on end. He is a garrulous man with many stories to tell. Eventually we tease out ideas.”