David Bowie has penned some new “classics” for Lazarus, according to the director of the forthcoming musical stage show.
Bowie has reportedly taken a close interest in the project, which centers on the veteran British singer’s iconic screen character Thomas Jerome Newton, from the 1976 cult sci-fi film The Man Who Fell to Earth.
According Lazarus’ Belgian director Ivo van Hove, some of the Bowie’s new compositions “sound as if you have heard them for ever — like classics.” As previously reported, Lazarus will also feature new arrangements of earlier recorded Bowie material.
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David Bowie’s ‘Lazarus’ to Rise on New York Stage
It’s expected Lazarus will reach the stage at the end of the year, with exact dates, cast and other details to be announced. Van Hove, however, has told the BBC preparations are “far advanced” and he described the new Bowie material as “really great stuff”.
He added, “I started with Young Americans as a young man and went onto Station to Station, Low, Lodger, and Heroes, but I really loved his last album The Next Day — it’s a mixture of all these things.
“There are romantic songs — because his songs are deeply romantic — and there are songs about violence and the ugly world surrounding us. That’s what these new songs are about.”
Don’t expect the reclusive Bowie to reprise his role as the humanoid alien. “He will not be on stage,” adds Van Hove. “I don’t think that is the thing he likes most in his life. But as far as I can judge, it is a very important project in his life.”
David Bowie Producer Confirms New Album
Bowie last year celebrated his 50th year since the release of his first recording with a new song, the modern-jazz surprise “Sue (Or in a Season of Crime),” and its b-side, the experimental “’Tis a Pity She Was a Whore.”
His 2013 album The Next Day (Iso/Columbia Records) arrived at No. 1 in 15 countries including the U.K. and debuted at No. 2 on the Billboard 200, his highest-ever debut on the U.S. chart.
Bowie’s longtime producer Tony Visconti teased, “there’s gonna be another album, definitely soon.” That was September, and no new album has since fallen to earth.