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A KNIGHT'S TALE - the musical?! | What we know about the upcoming stage version of the 2001 film
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Mickey Jo
I have been weighed, I have been measured and I have been found wanting. And what I am wanting specifically is this. And I did not know I was wanting this because I did not know this existed. Y'all. Who was going to tell me that a musical Based on the 2001 film A Knight's Tale was in development? That's right, this has been in development because musicals do not just happen. There is a long gestational period. It takes years of development and workshopping and, you know, people coming on board to direct and then going to a different director and then trying it out in different places. This takes a long time. These things don't just pop up in Manchester, but apparently that's what's going to happen, because I had no idea that one of my favourite films of all time, one of my family's favourite films of all time, a film of my childhood, A Knight's Tale, was A, being turned into a musical, B, was about to be produced in Manchester in the United Kingdom as what may be a pre West End run west. What the heck is happening? Oh, my God. Hey. Welcome back. For those of you who don't know me, my name is Mickey Jo. I am a theatrical content creator here on social media. I am a professional theatre critic. You can find many of my West End and Broadway and beyond theatre Reviews here on YouTube, also on podcast streaming platforms. If I seem a little bit flustered, it's because they're turning A Knight's Tale into a musical. Everybody, if you have no idea what this film is, then, you know, just feel the excitement reverberating through your screen because I have a lot of feelings about this. If you know what this film is and you are as shook as I am, then you are in the right place to have a moment about it. A Knight's Tale, the 2001 film that starred Heath Ledger as this secret squire pretending to be a knight and competing in jousting tournaments to try and, you know, move himself up in the world in this medieval feudal system, is being turned into a stage musical. Because in 2024, you can be whatever you want to be. And by you, I mean literally any films. And by whatever you to be, I mean stage musicals. Literally. I have visions of all of these theatrical producers just spending their lunch breaks going, I mean, Blockbuster Video doesn't exist anymore, but they must be going through some sort of catalogue of old films, being like, that one, that one, that one, that one. In any case, this is absolutely breaking news and I'm going to tell you everything we know. So far today. If you enjoy this video, make sure to subscribe if you're watching me here on YouTube to my theatre themed YouTube channel. Turn on notifications so you don't miss any other upcoming and exciting Broadway and West End news. Also worth pointing out I have no idea how popular this film is beyond my own excitement and nostalgia for it. So please comment down below with whether or not this has blown your mind and how excited you may or may not be for this musical. I'm going to read to you from the press release, so here is the currently embargoed information. By the time you're seeing this, it's public knowledge, I'm hoping or I've pressed a wrong button on YouTube and I'm in a lot of trouble. Here it is. World premiere production of A Knight's Tale, the musical to open at Manchester Opera House from 11th April 2025 they say like that isn't life changing. Tickets to go on sale on the 1st of August so you have a little bit of time to get your affair in order. Sell your cow, whatever it may be. Now the Manchester Opera House is a regional British theatre located in Manchester in the north of the United Kingdom, and it's a location where more and more musicals are doing their pre West End tryouts, which I'm not sure if that wording is officially used at any point in this press release. We will find out, but it is where Anne Juliet played before the West End. Although by the time they opened in Manchester, I believe the West End arrival at the Shaftesbury Theatre was already a foregone conclusion. From what I remember, Back to the Future had its pre West End run in Manchester as well. I don't know if these were all at the Opera House because there are two big theatres in Manchester and I'm constantly getting the two of them confused. Doubtfire, the musical is another one that played in Manchester prior to the West End and when they were out of town they did not have London confirmed. I remember that being conspicuous. Anyway, let's carry on with the press release producer runaway entertainment of Disney's Newsies of Girl from the North country of 222, a ghost story, that prolific spooky play and 101 Dalmatians the musical is delighted to announce the world premiere production of A Knight's Tale, the musical based on the Columbia Pictures film written and directed by Brian Helgeland. I never noticed how similar that man's name is to Geldaland, which is a surname made up for the film that's Fun, which starred Heath Ledger and Paul Bettany among others. The musical will open at Manchester Opera House on 11th of April 2025 for a strictly limited run until the 10th of May 2025. A month. It's literally going to be in Manchester for a month. This has pre West End out of town tryout written all over it because it's. It's only there for a month. This is not the first of several tour dates to be announced. This, this feels like pre West End. It is adapted for the stage. Here's the interesting part by Irish comedy writer and actor Brona C. Titley. Directed by the award winning Rachel Kavanaugh Rachel Kavanagh and choreographed by Olivier award winning Matt Cole of Newsies. There you go. Tickets go on General Sale on the 1st of August and you can sign up now at aknightstalemusical.com is this website, even though the news hasn't been broken yet, a Knight's Tale musical dot com. Well it's not gonna work if you put an apostrophe in it. I'm just getting white a blank page or canvas. Doo doo doo doo doo. Okay, I feel like the website is not yet live by the time you're seeing this. I think there's going to be a website. Here is their little description of the show that this is going to be. A Knight's Tale has it all. Expect a truly rockin soundtrack packed with chart topping hits. Join Will Thatcher and his band of merry misfits for a night with a K like no other. You know they're gonna have that all over all of the posters. But learned something about this show because if you'll notice when I told you about the creative team, we only have credited a writer who is adapting the film. There is no credited composer lyricist, which you would usually see with a musical. Why? Because this is a jukebox musical. Now don't be deflated those of you who are anti jukebox musical. If you have seen this film, it's not unlike Moulin Rouge that came out around the same time is one of those films that has a playful and anachronistic relationship to its soundtrack. As we are waiting for this opening jousting sequence in the film, the crowd in in the in the wooden structures on either side. Listen, I don't know things about medieval jousting. Sue me. They are thumping and they end up making the introductory rhythm of the Queen song We Will Rock youk which we then hear in the soundtrack. I think it also features we are the Champions. There is David Bowie in the dance sequence that starts with like medieval music and then turns into. Turns into Bowie. Yes, I just pronounced his name two different ways, but I believe so did he. So for those of you who don't know this film, let me expand just a little. It so very early 2000s. This was Heath Ledger playing Will Thatcher. Heath Ledger, who is perhaps best remembered for his posthumously Academy Award winning performance as the Joker in the Batman film the Dark Knight. Or perhaps for being one half of the onstage romantic lead couple of Brokeback Mountain alongside Jake Gyllenhaal. Or even for his charming teen movie moment opposite Julia Stiles in 10 Things I Hate about yout. That's another film I grew up loving because guess what? It's based on Shakespeare. A Knight's Tale, meanwhile, is loosely based on Chaucer. Chaucer, who also appears as a character in the film, played by Paul Bettany, who is now best known to audiences as the robot gentleman from the Avengers. I'm talking about vision because there are in fact multiple robot gentlemen in the Avengers. And it is a legitimately romantic film. It's also a very funny film, a very charming film, and it's just very inspiring. It's one of those very feel good stories about this squire who in response to the death right at the start of the film of his master, perhaps they call, listen, I need to learn more about medieval knights. Clearly he dies and the squires are all like, what are we going to do? It was the last round of the tournament. All he needs to do is like ride across on his horse and he'll be fine and they will make some money off of it. And this gives Will the idea of posing to be a knight and competing in further tournaments. Except there are big legal implications for this. He has to forge papers. He is breaking a lot of law. He's not meant to be rising above his station. You had to be of noble birth in order to compete in the tournaments. They end up roping in more and more people to perpetrate this ruse. He finds a nemesis. There is a romantic subplot that arises. He has a handful of comedic sidekicks. It's a very lovely film that I haven't seen in years. Was not even 1% expecting it to be turned into a stage musical. Like I said, this was not on my radar. I still, having scoured the Internet, can't find any evidence of this having been talked about before this press release. There was a Knight's Tale musical that was produced in Japan with John Caird involved. But that, from what I can tell, is not even based on the film. That seems to be an adaptation of Shakespeare. So this has come completely out of left field on horseback. But like I said, we can assume from the way this is worded that this is going to be a jukebox musical. Whether or not it's going to use the iconic soundtrack from the film. I kind of assume that it will, but I could only tell you a couple of songs. Let's have a look at this film soundtrack and see which iconic songs I was forgetting about. I mean, Moulin Rouge did not use all of the music from the film. They used some of the most iconic moments and then they fleshed it out. Do we anticipate something similar happening here? I dare say we do. Golden Years was the Bowie song Crazy on youn Heart. Further on up the Road by Eric Clapton. Get ready, I Want to Take you Higher by Sly and the Family Stone. I remember the boys are back in town moment. That's a great moment. And what turns out are a lot of other songs that I have not heard of because guess what, I'm a musical theater person. But I am intrigued and cautiously optimistic about the way that that could work with this. I don't know to what extent it relies on people having already seen the film to get the idea, because for the most part, everyone who's going to Moulin Rouge kind of already understands the concept because most people have seen Moulin Rouge, right? Or at least most people know what Moulin Rouge is. I'd have to assume a minority of audiences at Moulin Rouge are taken aback by, you know, pre existing songs that they didn't realize were in the show. But I'd never thought about it until this moment. Maybe that does happen. Maybe I was just, you know, not even considering it at this point. Matt Cole as choreographer on Anything makes me very excited because his work has been brilliant recently. And not just in that style, but also Police Cops, the musical at Southwark Playhouse of all things, which again, was just fantastic work. And Rachel Kavanaugh is the perfect person to bring out the sentimentality and the aspiration of this. I loved her work on the great British Bake off musical. I mean that completely unironically and I'm very excited. I don't know much about the writer Brona C. Titli who is going to be adapting this, so let's have another Google. We are normalizing, learning about things that we don't know because I don't believe this is a theatre person or if they are, I apologize. Nick Broner is an Irish comedy writer and actor best known for her appearances in TV comedies such as Motherland, Avoidance, the Outlaws, Buffering, Tracey Ullman's show, and the Reluctant Landlord. Credits as writer include a lot of TV writing, including for the recent reality series Mamma Mia, I have a Dream, which we were all watching together, as well as for Tracey Ullman's show and a wealth of non narrative comedy shows. Let's go back to this press release. The film A Knight's Tale was released by Columbia Pictures in 2001. Written, co produced and directed by Oscar winner Brian Helgeland, the film is a stylish, music driven, action packed adventure starring a Heath Ledger. Music driven is in there to justify the adaptation to the stage, which you know, I'm curious about, but we'll circle back to that in just a moment with heroic performances from Paul Bettany, Mark Addy, Rufus Sewell. He's great. In it, Ledger plays William Thatcher, a 14th century peasant squire who breaks all the rules when he passes himself off as a nobleman and takes the jousting world by storm. The only thing that stands between William and his dream of becoming the world champion of the most extreme of sports of the time is the bad boy of the sport, Count Adhemar. And when the two rivals go lance to lance at the World Finals, you'd better arm yourself and hang on tight for the ride of your life. Please don't make it immersive. I don't need everything to be immersive and you know that. It's just I can already smell the sawdust. The hit film, which mixed modern music with its medieval setting, garnered a lot of positive attention and has been cited by some as paving the way for hits like Netflix's Bridgerton. I suppose so, in the way that that music is used in a slightly anachronistic fashion. But again, Moulin Rouge, I will say, was also doing the same thing, although I say that A Knight's Tale was released eight days before. Fine, I take it all back. That is very close together. Brian Helgeland, Original writer, producer, director, etc. Over 20 years ago I had the of my life. That's a different film. That's Dirty Dancing surrounded by a supreme cast and crew making a film we all fell in love with while we were joyfully making it. Sitting at a recent read through of the stage version fashioned by Rachel Kavanaugh and Brona C. Titley, I could feel that same joy and love emerging. Where was my invitation to this reading? I'M joking. Mostly I am grateful for the new life they are creating and very eager to see it in all its fully staged glory. So great to hear that he has been involved to a certain extent but is not involved ongoingly, unlike in some other film to stage projects that are happening. When I saw A Knight's Tale, the movie in 2001, I knew it was an instant classic. Upon innumerable rewatches, I can confirm it still is. Adapting it for the stage has been more fun than I ever thought possible to have at work. This show is a sexy, silly, jousty, dancey, romancy musical extravaganza. I like that they've put a dash in between romance and the why to make romancy as if jousty and dancey are legitimate words. Maybe they are. Listen, I'm not Susie Dent from Countdown. It's been one of the most fulfilling jobs of my career so far and that was even before I met the incredible director and team of legends that are working together to make it an unforgettable night out. I hope audiences love it as much as I do. Do not miss this joyous dizzy ride people. I'm glad it's being created here and not elsewhere because I do think that that is the spirit of the thing. Rachel Kavanaugh said, I am beyond excited to be directing Broner's brilliant and hilarious stage adaptation of Brian's groundbreaking film with a score of well loved rock and pop bangers, jousting, dancing, adventure and romance. I hope we can give the audience a knight with a K to remember she's been media trained as we follow the journey of a thatcher's son and find out if he really can change his stars. I'm gonna cry thinking about this film. Have we seen Jousting on stage before? This is a question I have and this leads me into my next thing, but I'm just gonna finish this press release first. This is all the credits that we already knew about casting by Lucy Kasten and children's casting by Keston and Keston. So children's casting. He is depicted as a child in the film. I dare say that will be retained in the stage version. Of course, we don't know how close of an adaptation this is going to be, so nothing is to be assumed. Okay, so there's a trailer here which I'm going to have edited earlier into this video and I'm going to react to it for you now. So this is my reaction to the 30 second trailer once the police have left. I know this is under Embargo. Okay. He's got a sword. There's not a lot of swords in the thing, but I understand. Hard to show jousting in a trailer. Very blue and pink. I hope her character, the blacksmith is still in it. She is important. Charging into Manchester, April 2025. Slightly homoerotic. Very blue and pink, very neon. It's exciting, though. It is exciting. I'm so intrigued by this artwork that they're using with this helmet side profile with the blue and pink with a knight's tail in neon. I think it's a great way of denoting that it's been theatricalized, that it's been musicalized. But it is a big departure from the original film artwork and style. It's a little bit and Juliet esque in terms of, like, using that font, but in a kind of a neon contemporary way. And I think that just denotes the anachronistic style of the music and how that's incorporated into the medieval setting and plot. That is my thinking, anyway. The bigger question is how on earth are they going to do this on stage? Have we seen jousting done on stage before? I'm assuming we don't have live horses on this stage. Are we doing it war horse style? Like this is. This is jousting, and that is kind of the whole conceit, unless they change the whole thing to sword fighting. But a very big plot point of it is that it is jousting on horseback. So it feels like they're going to have to retain that. And honestly, I don't know how all of the rest of it you have. There's so much heart in this story. There's romance in the story and there's drama. And there is someone coming from humble origins and, you know, trying to attain the highest level of success with their pride. He's doing it for his father. And this. Listen, that's a beautiful story. That all works. I have very few qualms about this on stage and hopefully have some moments of silliness and some moments of a little bit more sincerity. Shows like and Juliet and Moulin Rouge never managed to find a tremendous amount of sincerity when incorporating jukebox music. So I will be intrigued to see what happens with this. That's my one kind of reservation about a jukebox score for a show like this. Maybe they could write one original song that happened. Moulin Rouge has its Come what May and Juliet has the we're on a chair. One more try. There we go. We got there in the end. Listen, it's late and you know what? In spite of living in a country that does a hell of a lot of Shakespeare, very often I don't know that I've ever seen anyone in like, full armor on stage, or if I have, I'm immediately forgetting about it and someone's going to remind me, like, aside from like a Spamalot, I don't know that I've seen this, like, medieval period depicted as authentically because I've seen so many concept Shakespeares and minimal Shakespeares and, you know, I'm excited for that aesthetic. The next question is, who is going to be in the show? This is not that far away. We are in July right now. This is April of next year. It's going to be a longer rehearsal process because they are building something completely from scratch. Apparently it's already been in workshops, so I'm guessing a cast is already attached and very possibly principals are going to be retained from this workshop to go into the regional tryout. Who knows? And these characters could be just about anyone. I don't even know to what extent I can start, like, theorizing casting here. I have no idea whatsoever. Listen, I didn't even know this was happening. I can't tell you who I think is going to be in the thing. Oscar Conan Murray would make a fantastic and hilarious Chaucer. That's all I know. Or indeed any of the other sort of like comedy sidekick characters. I'm hoping that the casting is diverse. I'm hoping that the casting is exciting. I. I don't, you know, I really don't know to what extent this needs to be, like, star led and have names in it, because this is a recognizable film. But I'm not sure it's going to automatically sell itself the same way. Something like a burlesque. Like everyone can see burlesque on stage. Or Moulin Rouge. Everyone can see Moulin Rouge on stage. They scream stage, musical. So when they're announced, people already love those films. They buy tickets, they sell out. I don't know if A Knight's Tale is as widely beloved in a way that would immediately sell out on stage. Perhaps it will, who knows? Listen, we will find out on the 1st of August. Who do I want to play? Will Thatcher. I think Ben Culleton, who is currently in Les Miserables in the West End, would do a lovely job. But also someone like Joaquin. Pedro Valdez, who is currently in the Baker's Wife, who was in Death Note, who was in Heather's and all sorts of other things. Ahmed Hamed, who was in Sunset Boulevard at the Savoy. If Tom Francis wasn't busy going to Broadway with Sunset Boulevard, I would throw his name in the ring. But I'm also not the casting director and I'm not part of this show. So I can throw whatever names into whatever ring I want and it's not going to make a difference because someone has already been workshopping this material and nobody told me. I'll get over it at some point, but it is not this day. Anyways. My blood pressure begins to decrease. I think that's probably all that we have to say about A Knight's Tale coming to the stage, but I am stunned by this news. I am so intrigued to hear what you all think. How much love is there for A Knight's Tale? Have you heard of this film? Comment down below, let me know. Do you know the film? Do you not know the film? Are you excited? Do you think this is a good idea? Do you have any predictions? Are you planning to get tickets? Let me know what you think. In the meantime, I hope that you have enjoyed this theatre news video. For more breaking theatre news in the West End and on Broadway, make sure you're subscribed to my theatre themed YouTube channel. Turn on those notifications so you don't miss my upcoming videos and go find me on other social media platforms across the Internet. I am MickyJoe Theatre. I hope that everyone has been staying safe and that you have a stagey day. For 10 more seconds, I'm Mickey Jo Theatre. Oh my God. Hey, thanks for watching. Have a stagey day. 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