Sing Street musical to have UK premiere next summer

Sing Street: A New Musical will make its UK premiere next summer at the Lyric Hammersmith Theatre.

The stage version of John Carney’s beloved coming-of-age film, about a 16-year-old Dubliner trying to form a band in the 1980s, was first seen in Boston and New York before the pandemic began – though had its Broadway season halted by the lockdowns.

It has a book by Enda Walsh, with music and lyrics by Gary Clark and Carney, direction by Rebecca Taichman (who oversaw the New York and Boston versions), choreography by Sonya Tayeh and design by Bob Crowley, with casting by Stuart Burt.

The Lyric Hammersmith Theatre’s artistic director Rachel O’Riordan said today: “I think there’s something at the heart of it that is quite simple about what music and being in a band does for people. It’s about people’s contact with creativity and rebellion, and also music taking you out of yourself and where you are.”

Clark added: “As my first musical collaboration with film-maker John Carney, and with a story that very much echoes the forming of my own rough and unready school band in the early 1980s, Sing Street holds a very special place in my heart.

“We had so much fun creating the original songs for the movie and rekindled that spirit for the additions that we’ve written especially for this production, and I am absolutely thrilled to see Sing Street the musical hit the stage of The Lyric Hammersmith and to be working with such a brilliant and talented team.”

O’Riordan added that this will be a new version of the show, rather than a re-mount of the New York version of the production.

The show will run from 8 July to 23 August 2025, with a press night on 18 July.

You can find out more about the Lyric Hammersmith’s season here.