My ‘two penn’orth’ if it is really a musical. That would be a big departure for MK, for a few reasons, any of which might have some bearing on the secrecy surrounding the project.
Writing songs for a musical is very different to writing songs for an album – even if it’s just a ‘play with songs’ the songs still have to serve the story. I can’t imagine MK is going to change his style at all, and I’m sure he’s up to the challenge, but it is a change from what he’s used to.
Secondly, any musical is a collaborative effort. Even if MK has sole artistic control – even if he is bankrolling the whole thing – it’s still a collaboration. There is whoever is writing the ‘book’, the director, possibly other producers, set designers, maybe orchestrators and ultimately the cast who will perform it. We know Mark likes to have total control of whatever he is working on, so a musical would take him well outside that comfort zone.
Finally, a musical is always a gamble. You can have the best songwriters, the best cast, a producer with a string of hits…and still crash and burn. The current fad for ‘jukebox’ musicals is probably a safer bet, but it doesn’t sound like this project will just be a rehash of old Dire Straits hits. The MK team will be used to knowing pretty much what any album or tour will generate financially – this will be very different.
So, maybe the secrecy is them getting it to a point to see if it works: the songs, the way of working, whether the whole thing hangs together? If it was me, I’d probably want to have a good look at it and maybe get some feedback before announcing anything.
As I say, just my thoughts. I kind of hope it isn’t a musical but part of me is curious to see what it would sound like…
