Pink Floyd star Roger Waters: Billy Elliot team can bring The Wall to West End

Waters said he will produce The Wall with Eric Fellner, co-owner of Working Title productions which staged Billy Elliot, and will write the adaptation with Lee Hall, who wrote the book and lyrics for the musical
“Inspired”: Roger Waters with his son Jack at the premiere of new film in Manhattan
MediaPunch/REX
Tom Teodorczuk12 October 2015

Pink Floyd co-founder Roger Waters has revealed that he is working with the team behind Sir Elton John’s musical Billy Elliot to bring the stage version of the band’s classic 1979 album The Wall to the West End.

Speaking to the Standard at the launch of his new concert film documentary - hosted by the Peggy Siegal Company - Waters said he will produce The Wall with Eric Fellner, co-owner of Working Title productions which staged Billy Elliot, and will write the adaptation with Lee Hall, who wrote the book and lyrics for the musical.

The Wall will be directed by acclaimed theatre director Simon McBurney.

Waters, 72, said: “When it came to thinking about The Wall as a theatrical piece, I was inspired by Billy Elliot.”

“If even for an hour or two we can divert people from staring at Kim Kardashian’s bum and pay attention to the predicament of others... then we will have done a good thing”

&#13; <p>Roger Waters</p>&#13;

He added: “The plan is to stage it in London first. I’ve set up a production company with Eric Fellner but there’s no timeframe yet.” It will bear little relation to Sir Alan Parker’s 1982 film version of The Wall. There has been talk of turning the album into a musical for more than a decade.

The new film, Roger Waters’ The Wall, is in cinemas in London and worldwide for one night only tonight. It splices footage from his The Wall tour staged between 2010 and 2013 — the largest worldwide tour by a solo artist — with scenes of Waters honouring the memory of his grandfather and father, who died in the two world wars.

Speaking at its launch, hosted by the Peggy Siegal Company at Manhattan restaurant Le Bernardin, Waters said he hopes the documentary, which he co-directed with Sean Evans, will provide an alternative to the exploits of the Kardashians.

He said: “If even for an hour or two we can divert people from staring at Kim Kardashian’s bum and pay attention to the predicament of others, develop a political awareness and encourage our children to think about the way we organise the affairs of the world, then we will have done a good thing because by and large we are encouraged to do nothing but stare at bums.”

Waters, who has been an outspoken political activist since he left Pink Floyd in 1985, said he was a fan of Labour’s new leader.

He said: “I think Jeremy Corbyn is a huge breath of fresh air following in the august footsteps of Aneurin Bevan, Michael Foot and Tony Benn and the rest of the Left wing of British politics.” Asked about Mr Corbyn’s chances of winning a general election, Waters said: “I don’t live in England so I don’t know whether he’s electable.”

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