Gossip

Richard Eyre & Stephen Mear Are Blue Eyes Boys???

The dance card is filling up nicely for the musical adaptation of Alan Bennett’s 1984 film A Private Function. In addition to the musical duo of Stiles & Drewe (aka the British musical writing partnership, composer George Stiles and lyricist Anthony Drewe) and book writers Ron Cowen and Dan Lipman, impresario Cameron Mackintosh is in talks with heavy hitters Richard Eyre and Stephen Mear to direct and choreograph respectively, according to the Daily Mail. The musical, renamed Betty Blue Eyes, is due to premiere at the West Yorkshire Playhouse in Leeds in February/March 2011 before transferring to one of Mackintosh’s West End theatres. Maggie Smith, Michael Palin and Denholm Elliott starred in the screen original which is set in a Yorkshire village after the Second World War, where rationing presents a challenge for the locals who want to celebrate a Royal wedding in style.