A musical adaptation of David Baddiel’s comedy film The Infidel will be staged at the Theatre Royal Stratford East this autumn after members of the public put their hands in their pockets to help fund the project.
The Infidel – The Musical, which will be co-directed by Baddiel and the Theatre Royal Stratford East’s Artistic Director Kerry Michael, will play from 3 October to 2 November.
Featuring a book and lyrics by the British comedian with additional material by Arvind Ethan David, the show tells the story of British Muslim Mahmoud Nassir who discovers that he’s adopted and, to make matters worse, his birth parents were Jewish. The resulting cultural and religious chaos leads to an insightful comedy of identity, race, prejudice and confusion that hopes to follow in the footsteps of hugely successful subversive musicals including The Book Of Mormon and Avenue Q.
Described by Baddiel as “the lovechild of Fiddler On The Roof and The Book Of Mormon with a bit of Bombay Dreams thrown in”, the musical will feature music by Erran Baron Cohen, a composer best known his work on his brother’s blockbuster films Borat, Bruno and The Dictator.
The production’s forthcoming arrival on the London stage was made possible by a Kickstarter crowd-funding campaign that saw members of the public pledge £55,110 to get the production off the ground.
Talking about the success of the publicly funded initiative, co-director Michael said: “We’re very pleased that members of the public got behind our campaign to stage this exciting new musical. We’ve been supporting the development of this production over the 18 months and it’s evolved to be a funny, edgy and courageous show, which I have no doubt will be a joy to watch.”
The Infidel – The Musical will open at the Theatre Royal Stratford East following Fings Ain’t Wot They Used T’Be starring Ryan Molloy and Jessie Wallace, which plays from 8 May to 8 June.