Another dose of Girl Power

A new West End musical featuring the music of the Spice Girls is being produced by the mastermind behind the phenomenal success of Mamma Mia!. The show Viva Forever — the title of a Spice Girls hit is yet to be written, but Judy Craymer, the main architect behind the stage show Mamma Mia!, said she expected it to be on the London stage within two or three years.

Craymer revealed how she was approached twice over the past years by Geri Halliwell about the idea of putting together a stage musical featuring the songs associated with the group which, for a spell in the '90s, epitomised the notion of Girl Power. "I'd always said: ‘No, no, I'm too busy' and they came to me in October and it just hit me that it could be a great idea. It's not just what they were, but what they've become.

"It's about the impact they've had on social popular culture," Craymer said.

Female empowerment

"They were pre-war [Iraq] and pre-Blair. They arrived with that Cool Britannia sensibility. These women do embody feminism, but they took it into a whole different field. It was OK to have make-up, sexy short skirts and all that stuff, and they did that on their own terms and still do," Craymer said, explaining how the Spices' brand of female empowerment emboldened a generation of women.

"They also broke through the lad culture and bred the ladette culture. They were the girl band of that time and the biggest-selling girl band of all time."

There have been previous attempts to bring the idea of a Spice Girls musical to fruition, but this is an all-new effort. Craymer has had several meetings with Spice Girls Halliwell, Victoria Beckham, Emma Bunton and Melanie Chisholm, and she was struck by how the dynamic of their friendship has developed, particularly now that all of the Spice Girls have become mothers.

"They're proud mums and that has pulled them all together again. There's a sisterhood feel about them."

Talking to Hello! magazine, Mel B said: "We don't do anything unless all five agree," explaining that they first had the idea a couple of years ago. "All of us loved Mamma Mia!," she added, "we needed someone who would have a great vision alongside ours."

Halliwell has been the engine behind Viva Forever and she and Simon Fuller, one-time manager of the Spice Girls, have joined with Craymer and Universal Music to develop the stage show.

However, they are all allowing Craymer to put the production together. She will find the right writer, director and creative team. She has an intuitive understanding of how such musicals should be constructed.

They must have a strong storyline to underpin the whole structure. It's Mamma Mia!'s strong underpinning that has allowed it a West End run of more than a decade and, at various times, 25 productions around the world.

Viva Forever will not be a tribute show; rather, it will have a plot that incorporates essences of the Spice Girls.

"It's going to be fictional, but various characters will have traits that will remind you of the group. It won't be their life story. It will be fictionalised, but you would feel you were getting the sense of a story about a group of women that you knew was very much related to the music.

"And it would all be their music, like Who Do You Think You Are, Wannabe, The Lady Is A Vamp and Mama but the show has to be written first, before the songs can be incorporated."

‘Huge energy'

Craymer stressed that she will not be casting lookalikes for the Viva Forever musical. She thought it would be set in the '90s and, perhaps, span into this century. But there would be plenty of humour.

"They all like musicals. Victoria and Geri told me how they grew up with musicals like Starlight Express and Cats and they've seen Mamma Mia! 900 times. I'm kidding, but they know the show and know about musical theatre.

"They have huge energy they certainly energised me and like the idea of working with another girl power person, or at least an old girl power person," she joked.

It's a cracking idea and if Craymer's creative team, when it's assembled, can give Viva Forever some heat, fire-power and substance, then there's no reason it shouldn't be a huge hit.