"But 2004 seems to be the year of his big return. He has conquered Glastonbury and Reading, curated London's Meltdown Festival and released the acclaimed album First of the Gang to Die which features "Irish Blood, English Heart".

-Tyically CRAP journalism from The Independant.

Smiths without the words? What a waste of time then.

The Independent article mentions that they are building a Morrissey Heritage Centre in Salford. First I've heard of it. Do they mean The Smiths Room they've now got at Salford Lads Club or is something new being built?

No story. A bunch of people on stage wailing around to a symphonic rendition of Smiths songs. Good lord. What rubbish!

Good news, it would be comforting to have a similar assurance re Mike Read.

this idea is piss. but we must kindly look the other way if the twerps behind this actually make opening night (they'll get no further).

those moz/smiths fans who opt to endure this travesty (if only to confront their own snobbery) will be sick in the street before they get in the theatre. the rest of the world will be unaware of this.

just as certain fans have somehow bent moz's unambiguous position on US politics into something compatible with their world-view, so breathless thesps cannot resist co-opting our hero's work to their creatively bankkrupt ends.

25 tourists will be accidentally exposed to 'hand in glove', which is good.

You premature nay-sayers are as bad as the Republican demagogues who vilified Fahrenheit 9-11 without having actually seen it. :p

I forgot to mention it is the most dreadfull piece of writing I have ever seen in a so called quality newspaper -

I mean - some idiot was PAID to put together this crappy - badly written - badly researched abortion of an article

rant over

You miserable gits that is, not the musical.
You're all entitled to your opinions of course, but how can you slag something off when you haven't seen it?
Sounds quite interesting to me and if you read the thing properly there will be vocals! It's obviously not going to be like the Rod Stewart or Queen musicals. If you look at the last choice of subject by these people (Jacques Brel) you might realise that.
Is The Smiths music so sacred that you can't bear to hear other interpretations? If so, don't go. But if you don't go you can't criticise it!
And why the boring put downs of journalists (same old quotes from song titles)? Don't you people read newspapers or magazines? I suppose because Morrissey doesn't like them you must follow the masters voice.

stroudgreen

and gags!

  No good can come of this, my heart sinks everytime I think of stage school gimps belting out 'There is a light...'

Pure opportunism....

That gives more exposure to the songs and makes people rethink their prejudices about Morrissey (which they won't be able to help once they actually hear his words instead of listening to "miserablilist" cliches from journalists) is fine by me.

The story has been picked up in London's Evening Standard:

http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/showbiz/articles/14640400?source=PA

This is bad news. I have a classical album of smiths covers, it stinks, just sounds sad and pathetic. If this news really is true (and its origins are dubious IMO) it is a waste of time and money and designed for sad old trouts with dusty quiffs.

In the light of recent events, this surely is one of the worst news this utterly fucked up year has thrown up in our collective faces!

Will they translate it in Dutch? Where can I buy the ticket?

The two guys who are doing this have previously worked on the Brel production. I hear that The Smiths project is going to be a similar kind of thing, so I wouldn't get too worried about it. I don't think that it's going to be a Ben Elton kind of thing.