LONDON - Pop singer George Michael (news) is considering whether to turn the music of Wham! into a musical. Michael tells a London radio station two or three producers have approached him and Andrew Ridgeley (news) with the idea.

Michael says on a creative level, he hates the idea. However, he says he knows a certain generation of people would love it.


He says Ridgeley is of the opinion that if the story is good enough, it would be "snotty" to not do it. He says Ridgeley would love the fact that it would make a fortune as well. Michael says he's afraid the stage version would be "a lot of cheese" and he would "literally have to avoid the premiere."


Michael has reason for concern, as musicals based on pop music have had a mixed showing in the United States. "Mama Mia!," based on music by Abba, and "Movin' Out," centered around Billy Joel (news) songs, have both fared well on Broadway. However, "Taboo," a musical prominently using Boy George songs and backed by Rosie O'Donnell (news), closed in February after three months.

purplegypsy said:

Gee, I wonder why people avoided it?

Anyway, Wham!'s style of music would be very appropriate for a musical. Mamma Mia! always gets an amazing reaction from the audience, but then, that's Abba and I really don't think Wham! has the back catalogue required to make this work. Out of the 16 tracks on their two studio albums (I won't even discuss "Fantastic", their horrible debut), I can conceive maybe 8 or 9 being used (and that's without plotline considerations).

Why a damn musical? Why not just a movie?

VoicesCarry said:

Maybe if it wasn't isolated to only Wham!'s catalog (80s GM inclusive) but yeah I agree. You can't make a musical like "Mamma Mia!" outta their shit.

I've heard of a Kylie Musical called I Should Be So Lucky