Speculations about the MK secret project

[dmg]

MK started working on a musical with Lynda La Plante in the early 90s...

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Just thinking that nowadays his wife is a writer.  Perhaps Kitty is working on this instead of La Plante...

[quizzaciously]

Haha, sometimes the synchronisation between Mark and Dylan baffles me... He too is working on a musical, but at least we have more info:

[quizzaciously]

And by the way, his musical has some old songs of his, as well as some of the new, I guess the same thing will be with MK.

[superval99]

 "Girl from the North Country" is already playing at The Old Vic, so Dylan isn't working on the musical at the moment and I'm not sure he ever was, since the 20 songs are from his back catalogue, re-arranged by Simon Hale to fit in around the play.   

https://www.thestage.co.uk/opinion/2017/girl-from-the-north-country-at-the-old-vic-review-round-up/

http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/theatre-dance/reviews/girl-from-the-north-country-old-vic-review-a7863891.html

[Jules]

And by the way, his musical has some old songs of his, as well as some of the new, I guess the same thing will be with MK.

Judging by the leaked titles, all songs are written specifically by MK for the musical.

[superval99]

And by the way, his musical has some old songs of his, as well as some of the new, I guess the same thing will be with MK.

Judging by the leaked titles, all songs are written specifically by MK for the musical.

That's what I understood too! 

From a few of the reviews I have read about "Girl from the North Country" no new songs were mentioned, only the 20 from Dylan's back catalogue.

[Jules]

The mirror in which we should look is the "The Last Ship" musical by Sting.

Maybe the only difference might be that, as far as I know, Sting composed that musical by its initiative, and MK was asked (according Guy's answers) to do it.

Sting recorded all the songs with guests musicians and his own band, released it on cd and then actors played it at Broadway and in some places in England. It looks like MK recorded the songs with his musicians and guests, it might be released in CD and then, actors will play it on stage...

I think they are close projects, aren't they?

[Jules]

My ‘two penn’orth’ if it is really a musical.  That would be a big departure for MK, for a few reasons, any of which might have some bearing on the secrecy surrounding the project.

Writing songs for a musical is very different to writing songs for an album – even if it’s just a ‘play with songs’ the songs still have to serve the story.  I can’t imagine MK is going to change his style at all, and I’m sure he’s up to the challenge, but it is a change from what he’s used to.

Secondly, any musical is a collaborative effort.  Even if MK has sole artistic control – even if he is bankrolling the whole thing – it’s still a collaboration.  There is whoever is writing the ‘book’, the director, possibly other producers, set designers, maybe orchestrators and ultimately the cast who will perform it.   We know Mark likes to have total control of whatever he is working on, so a musical would take him well outside that comfort zone.

Finally, a musical is always a gamble.  You can have the best songwriters, the best cast, a producer with a string of hits…and still crash and burn.  The current fad for ‘jukebox’ musicals is probably a safer bet, but it doesn’t sound like this project will just be a rehash of old Dire Straits hits.  The MK team will be used to knowing pretty much what any album or tour will generate financially – this will be very different.

So, maybe the secrecy is them getting it to a point to see if it works: the songs, the way of working, whether the whole thing hangs together?  If it was me, I’d probably want to have a good look at it and maybe get some feedback before announcing anything.

As I say, just my thoughts.  I kind of hope it isn’t a musical but part of me is curious to see what it would sound like…

This great post makes me think that it would probably take more than we expected... We don't know in which point they are, but any news about it for next year it looks unlikely.

[superval99]

I really hope it is successful for MK.  "The Last Ship" had a lot of awards and plaudits, but Jimmy Nail was eventually replaced by Sting in order to revive it, but even then it closed early and, I believe lost money.   I hope this doesn't happen in this case.

[Love Expresso]

Still not too enthusiastic about this Musical affair. After that underwhelming Altamira soundtrack which I even do not possess, this is the next strange thing from MK... don't know.. I really hope for a proper solo album that is not affected at all by this "new adventure" and gives me back some confidence in him and his artistic decisions.... how he can spend so much time for other people's plans I don't know.

LE

[superval99]

Still not too enthusiastic about this Musical affair. After that underwhelming Altamira soundtrack which I even do not possess, this is the next strange thing from MK... don't know.. I really hope for a proper solo album that is not affected at all by this "new adventure" and gives me back some confidence in him and his artistic decisions.... how he can spend so much time for other people's plans I don't know.

LE

I like Altamira very much - it is rather short, but very sweet!   

[Jules]

I really hope it is successful for MK.  "The Last Ship" had a lot of awards and plaudits, but Jimmy Nail was eventually replaced by Sting in order to revive it, but even then it closed early and, I believe lost money.   I hope this doesn't happen in this case.

Sting is a biggest name when it comes to the music business so if his musical was a failure, I don't have expectations that MK one could improve what Sting achieved.

[Jules]

Still not too enthusiastic about this Musical affair. After that underwhelming Altamira soundtrack which I even do not possess, this is the next strange thing from MK... don't know.. I really hope for a proper solo album that is not affected at all by this "new adventure" and gives me back some confidence in him and his artistic decisions.... how he can spend so much time for other people's plans I don't know.

LE

Actually Altamira took him very little time to be finished.  When Tracker was ready he and MK started with the soundtrack and it was finished lot of time before their tracker tour rehearsals started so it wasn't a distraction at all.

[Love Expresso]

I meant the time he spends on the "musical".

LE

[Jules]

I meant the time he spends on the "musical".

LE

Yes, a.musical will demand a lot of time... If it wasn't for it, probably a new CD would be ready for release and we would be crazy buying concert tickets but... Here we are...