Shane Warne-the musical?

I can see that Australian musicals might do well this coming year with Priscilla opening on the West End but I’m just not convinced we’re ready for a musical of Australian cricketing legend Shane Warne’s ‘interesting’ life.

Who is Shane Warne?

He was a famous/infamous Australian cricketer. He was a deadly bowler in his day who, according to the show (and many Australian cricket fans), bowled the ‘Ball of the Century’ against poor Mike Gatting in 1993. His story after that got a lot more soapy and complicated and this saga forms most of the second half of the show.

The show plays with a variety of musical styles from  gospel to gangsta rap. The first Act concentrates on the suburban boy makes good story of Shane’s unexpected rise to fame and his subsequent marriage. So far so predictable. It’s the second half of the show where things start to get complicated. According to the Independent:

The second half takes a downward swing with Warne banned for taking a prohibited diuretic (a diet pill from his mum), allegedly cheating on Simone, and agreeing to trade pitch and weather information for cash from an Indian bookmaker (complete with Bollywood-style backing dancers). This downfall is fleshed out in glorious technicolour boxer shorts, a dream orgy scene with women and a giant, inflatable dildo, and a knicker-flashing nurse sending saucy text messages in “What an SMS I’m in” (Warne was allegedly caught out sending an accidental response to his wife).

There is hard-core swearing, some eye-boggling sexual descriptions, and gratuitous insults of everyone from Diana and Dodi to Oskar Schindler.

So something for everyone then! Eddie Perfect, who composed and wrote the show  plays Warne. He has high hopes the show might eventually be invited to the West End.