Andy Bell Makes Big Musical Plans for Erasure

Posted on May 6th 2009 4:00PM by Steve Baltin
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Andy Bell has even more ambitious plans for the Erasure catalogue, despite having recently released a career-covering box set, 'Total Pop! -- The First 40 Hits.'

"I was thinking about an Erasure musical," he tells Spinner, unveiling some of his thoughts for the show. "I would hate for it to be all hits. I don't think that's the best stuff we've done. I've just been thinking about choosing songs that tell stories within the songs, rather than 'Blue Savannah.'"

Among the songs he would select to be cornerstones of the hypothetical musical are 'Hideaway,' 'Siren Song,' 'Home,' 'Mad As We Are,' and 'Rock Me Gently.' For Bell, the dreams of 'A Little Respect' and 'Chains of Love' making it to Broadway have been there fior some time. "It's only a kernel of an idea, but it's always been in the back of my mind," he says.

As for the plot, well, he has no idea. "You would have to take the songs, and like the woman who did Abba's ['Mamma Mia'], lay them all out -- all the words -- and then shuffle them around and see if the story comes out of all the songs, which I'm sure it would," he says. "It's always people getting lost and finding themselves."

Meanwhile, Bell he's ready to take on his heroes, Abba.' "I'm a bit up to here with 'Mamma Mia,'" he says. As to why he's had it with the play? "Even though we did it, I'm such an Abba purist that I only like them singing it."

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