Mark Brown, arts correspondent 

Adrian Mole musical to premiere in Leicester next year

Musical version of Sue Townsend's Secret Diary of Adrian Mole Aged 13 3/4 will be staged in fictional character's city of birth
  
  

Sue Townsend
Sue Townsend, who died in April, advised and encouraged the musical on its near three-year journey, the show’s creative team said. Photograph: Gary Calton Photograph: Gary Calton

First love; acne so bad it could surely be Lassa fever and the particular torment of being a misunderstood, unrecognised intellectual aged only 13 and 3/4 are to be brought to the stage in a musical version of one of the most popular British books of the past 40 years.

Curve in Leicester is to stage The Secret Diary of Adrian Mole Aged 13 3/4 - The Musical, it announced on Monday with the intention of then taking it into London's West End.

Mole's creator, Sue Townsend, who died in April, had advised and encouraged the musical on its near three-year journey, the show's creative team said. Townsend lived in Leicester all her life and her famous fictional creation was born there before moving to Ashby-de-la-Zouch.

"Sue was an absolute dream, she was so supportive and went through everything with us," said Pippa Cleary, one half of the writing team with Jake Brunger. "She gave us all the time in the world to get it right."

Executive producer Chris Stafford said he and director Luke Sheppard met Townsend a few weeks before she died.

"We were able to say we are definitely doing the show and the world premiere would be next year at Curve. She was really excited and buoyed up about the idea of a new generation being introduced to the book – a show for fans of the book but also new fans.

"I asked: 'What should we be saying to the writers,' because Sue was our lead creative on this. Sue said: 'As long as they stick to the book they'll be fine.'"

The search is now on for teenage performers who can fill the roles of the misunderstood Adrian, his best friend Nigel, the school bully Barry and the adorable, heavenly Pandora with her treacle-coloured hair; as well as adult actors who can play Adrian's dysfunctional adult family.

Brunger and Cleary are strikingly young, 26 and 28, and neither were born when Mole first came out in 1982 – a situation which probably helped, said Brunger.

"Sue said they had been approached many times about doing a musical and I think the hook for us was that we were an entirely new generation. We weren't born when the book came out and we had a passionate enthusiasm for it."

Brunger said there had been no question of updating the book or setting it closer to the present day.

"The fact is, teenagers are teenagers, no matter whether they have smart phones or not," he said. "You still get spots, you still get a first girlfriend."

Curve's chief executive, Fiona Allan, has high hopes for the show. "It can help put Leicester on the map," she said. "We really hope it can become synonymous with Leicester in the same way Mary Poppins is with London or The Full Monty is with Sheffield."

British musicals of recent years have had mixed fortunes. There are notable success stories in the shape of Billy Elliot and Matilda the Musical and the early closures of I Can't Sing and Andrew Lloyd Webber's Stephen Ward. This autumn all eyes will be on Made in Dagenham, a new musical directed by Rupert Goold and starring Gemma Arterton.

The Curve has positioned itself as a seed bed for new British musicals and had high hopes for its production of Water Babies earlier this year, which didn't transfer as they had hoped. Allan is in no doubt over whom she blames for its lack of success.

"It sold lots of tickets, audiences liked it, it got standing ovations … and it was absolutely murdered in the national press. They came and said it was a terrible show. They pretty much killed it off. There has to be a responsibility if we want a new British musical for people to understand that risks are being taken and that shows need to be developed – they have to give things a chance."

 

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