There will be high expectations for the RSC’s world premiere musical production of The Boy in the Dress, adapted from David Walliams’ first children’s novel. But if anyone can pull it off, Mark Ravenhill, Robbie Williams and Guy Chambers surely have a pretty good chance. Will it be the next Matilda? Time will tell…
The RSC’s artistic director Gregory Doran has announced the company’s winter season which will feature a musical adaptation of The Boy in the Dress, based on the best-selling novel by David Walliams with a book by Mark Ravenhill and songs by Robbie Williams and Guy Chambers. Doran directs the production will be run at the Royal Shakespeare Theatre from 8 November 2019 to 8 March 2020 (press night is 27 November 2019))
David Walliams said:
“I’m delighted to be working with the Royal Shakespeare Company to bring this, my first children’s novel, to the stage. It’s now 10 years since The Boy in the Dress was first published and we’ve come a long way in that time. Ultimately, I wanted to write a story that encouraged people to recognise that difference can be celebrated, that it’s okay to be yourself.
“I’ve always loved musicals and, somehow, I’d always imagined this book to be made into a musical so to be working with the RSC, Mark Ravenhill and song-writing partners Robbie Williams and Guy Chambers on this new production feels like a dream collaboration.”
Mark Ravenhill said: “I first came across The Boy in the Dress when I was Playwright in Residence at the Royal Shakespeare Company back in 2012. I remember thinking that it was such a gripping, entertaining and life-affirming story with all the ingredients of a great stage show. The Royal Shakespeare Company has a fantastic track record of producing family shows so when David suggested making his novel into a musical, I thought, let’s go for it!”