Roddy Doyle Makes Commitments to West End Stage???

Irish novelist Roddy Doyle is reportedly his first novel The Commitments, about a group of unemployed Dublin teenagers who form a soul band, into a stage musical aiming for a West End premiere in 2011/2012, according to the Irish Independent. Doyle was a Dublin schoolteacher in 1987 when he self-published the book, the first part of his Barrytown trilogy. In 1991, Alan Parker turned The Commitments into a film that became an international hit. If the musical happens, it will be able to capitalise on renewed interest around next year’s 20th anniversary of the film next year – the film’s stars are also doing so, reuniting for a series of anniversary concerts in Ireland next spring. The next two Barrytown books, The Snapper and The Van, were also filmed, and Doyle went on to win the 1993 Booker Prize for his subsequent standalone novel Paddy Clarke Ha Ha Ha.