From Botswana to Broadway? NYC buzzing for Mma musical
Plans to turn tales from the No.1 Ladies’ Detective Agency into a stage musical have taken a significant step forward.
Creator Alexander McCall Smith, who has penned the lyrics to music written by Edinburgh-based Graham Weir, a former member of Orchestral Manoueuvres in the Dark, revealed: “He’s a fantastic composer and the nicest man.
“And he has written some beautiful tunes for the No.1 Ladies’ Detective Agency.
“So we are currently talking to agents in New York.
“It is being pushed along and we’re hoping that something comes of that.”
The work – first announced at the Edinburgh International Book Festival in 2017 – features the “traditionally built” African detective Mma Precious Ramotswe, and is set in Botswana.
It’s thought to involve Mma Ramotswe having a confrontation with a witch doctor.
It follows the successful BBC and HBO TV series based on the books that starred Grammy award-winning singer and actress Jill Scott.
The pilot episode was co-written by Richard Curtis, the man behind smash hit films Four Weddings And A Funeral and Love Actually.
It ran for just one series despite having positive reviews and being sold around the world.
There was also a hit BBC Radio 4 series that ran for over 30 episodes.
The books themselves have sold over five million copies.
But the new stage show is not the only musical enterprise for the author-turned-lyricist – who also writes with another of the capital’s composers, Tom Cunningham.
Last year’s operetta, The Tumbling Lassie, based on the poignant true story of a child acrobat enslaved by a 17th Century showman in Scotland, was performed at the Edinburgh Fringe in addition to a charity performance in aid of anti-trafficking initiative.
It takes to the Edinburgh stage again in April for the same cause.
His brand new operetta based on Sir Walter Scott’s Dandie Dinmont is due to be premiered in June at the Borders Book Festival.