A musical based on the songs of The Smiths is to open next year.
"Some Girls Are Bigger Than Others" will be based on around 20 songs - yet to be decided - arranged for a string quartet and sung by a cast of six.
The show will be written by Andrew Wale and Perrin Manzer Allen, who previously wrote "Jacques Brel's Anonymous Society" using 20 of the Belgian singer's songs.
The show is said to be the antithesis of ABBA musical "Mamma Mia" and is being described instead as "film without a text".
Show producer Michael Brazier told The Independent: "Each song has a life of its own but they are connected by the way the performers behave on stage."
"It is not a linear story. There will be action going-on on stage whether it's dance or movement or acting without words depends on the scene."
"Sometimes the song... will be the main line of action. But other times... out of the corner of your eye you will be seeing impressionistic goings-on elsewhere on the stage."
The Smiths' songwriters Morrissey and Johnny Marr have given their blessing to the project but details are yet to be finalised.
"Some Girls Are Bigger Than Others" is set to open at Hammersmith's Lyric Theatre in July 2005.
