Spice Girls musical gets green light at last
By
Baz Bamigboye
Last updated at 3:17 PM on 21st January 2010
Judy Craymer, the woman behind Mamma Mia!, has revealed plans to create a Spice Girls musical.
She was persuaded to turn her talents to the Girl Power story by Geri Halliwell, the artist formerly known as Ginger Spice, who approached her twice about the idea.
Craymer turned the Abba musical Mamma Mia! into a global phenomenon - the show has had a West End run of more than a decade and spawned, over the years, 25 productions around the world.
Viva Forever: The Spice Girls, seen here during their reunion tour in 2007, plan to turn the Girl Power story into a stage musical
Id always said: No, no, Im too busy, she said. But it just hit me that it could be a great idea. Its not just what they were, but what theyve become. Its about the impact theyve had on social popular culture.
Creator: Geri Halliwell twice approached Judy Craymer, the woman behind Mamma Mia!, about the idea
Geri and Simon Fuller, one-time manager of the Spice Girls, have joined with Craymer and Universal Music to develop the stage show, which will be called Viva Forever, after one of the Spices hits.
Craymer revealed that, in addition to Halliwell, she had met with Victoria Beckham, Emma Bunton and Melanie Chisholm - although not yet with Melanie Brown, who resides mainly in Los Angeles - to discuss the musical, which is expected to be on the London stage within three years.
She said that she was struck by how the dynamic of the womens friendship had developed over the years, particularly now that all of the Spice Girls had become mums.
That has pulled them all together again. Theres a sisterhood feel about them, she noted.
Viva Forever will not be a tribute show, she added. 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.
.
I remember her boobs popped out at the Brit Awards when they were first about. I was only 10 at the time and i was like 
But good memories.
