David Simon, he of The Wire fame, is indulging his penchant for The Pogues by writing a musical based on their music.
According to Pogues founder member Spider Stacy, Simon, his crime novelist wife Laura Lippman and fellow scribe George Pelecanos are close to completing their meisterwork, which is set in a 1990s Hell’s Kitchen pub.
“David’s had various TV projects which have obviously taken precedence because this is a long process,” Stacy, who starred in Simon’s Treme drama, tells the Press Association. “We’re on the final script stage. It’s been drafted and redrafted, drafted and redrafted countless times.”
The multiple Emmy award-winning writer and director first revealed what he was up to in a 2013 blog post.
“I’ve been a fan of The Pogues and their music since the late 1980s,” he reflected. “After we had used some of their songs in The Wire, I had a chance to meet the band members through George Pelecanos, who had been invited to one of their concerts in Washington, D.C. Shortly thereafter, during some time in London, I was approached by Phil Chevron about the possibility of writing a musical that would utilise the band’s discography. Interested, I was then introduced to the estimable director Garry Hynes of Ireland’s Druid Theatre, who had also been engaged by Mr. Chevron.
In turn, I approached Mr. Pelecanos and my wife, novelist Laura Lippman, to help create a storyline for such a musical. George, my colleague on The Wire and Treme, is also a longstanding Pogues admirer and Laura, who has the lyrics of every Sondheim show memorised, has forgotten more about American musicals than I have so far learned.
“We sat, worked the problem, ran it by both Ms. Hynes and Mr. Chevron, who offered notes, suggestion, encouragement and help overall. Earlier this year, after a couple of abortive drafts of leaden misery, I turned in a completed draft that was at least free of shame-inducing hackery. The draft went to Ms. Hynes, with a copy to Phil Chevron, who was struggling with late-stage cancer. I was glad to have produced something at least worthy of their consideration before Mr. Chevron passed away in October, if only because it was Phil’s love and understanding of the stage musical and his advocacy for this project that it exists.
“It is not a musical about The Pogues, as was reported, but a tale written to utilise their musical canon.”