David Bowie was secretly working on a musical before he died.
David Bowie was working on a musical
The Space Oddity hitmaker died of cancer in January 2016 shortly after the release of his album Blackstar, and it has now been revealed he had also been working on an “18th century musical” called The Spectator before he passed away.
The project was kept secret even from his closest collaborators but the notes were found locked in his study after his death and have now been donated to the V+A Museum, along with the rest of his archive, for a new exhibition.
The notes, which have been shared with the BBC, showed David’s interest in the development or art and satire in 18th century London, as well as stories of criminals including the notorious thief ‘Honest’ Jack Sheppard.
Dozens of sticky notes were filled with ideas for the production and could be moved around to create a structure, and were found in his office – for which only the Ziggy Stardust singer and his personal assistant had a key – exactly as he had left them pinned to the walls.
They remained undisturbed until archivists started cataloguing his belongings and will be available to view when the V+A Storehouse in east London opens the doors to its David Bowie Centre on 13 September.
Madeleine Haddon, the collection’s lead curator, said: “We even have the desk [where he worked] at the Storehouse, as well.”
Among the 90,000 artefacts forming the collection is an entire notebook devoted to daily periodical The Spectator – which was published between 1711 and 1712 – in which David summarised several key essays and gave them a core out of 10.
One note showed David imagining the aftermath of a public hanging “with surgeons fighting over corpses”, while he mused over the possibility of making petty thief Jack one of the main characters, and another potential plot point involved a “central figure” being attacked by a notorious gang known as the Mohocks.
Madeleine believes it is possible the Aladdin Sane hitmaker was keen to contrast the Enlightenment with politics in the modern day.
She said: “He was interested in the development of musicals themselves in London in this period, and how musicals were used for political satire, particularly towards the Robert Walpole government.
“It seems he was thinking, ‘What is the role of artists within this period? How are artists creating a kind of satirical commentary?’
“It’s interesting to think that Bowie was working on this in the US in 2015, with the political situation that was taking place there. Was he thinking about that: The power of art forms to create change within our own political moment?”
Around 200 items will be on display at the museum but visitors can book appointments to view anything from the collection, ranging from stage costumes to handwritten lyrics, in person by filling out an online form.
Back in 2002, David voiced his dream of writing a stage production.
He told BBC Radio 4: “Right at the very beginning, I really wanted to write for theatre.
“And I guess I could have just written for theatre in my living room – but I think the intent was [always] to have a pretty big audience.”
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