''Bridget Jones's Diary'' is a musical with music and lyrics by

Lily Allen Lily Rose Beatrice Allen (born 2 May 1985) is an English singer, songwriter, and actress. List of awards and nominations received by Lily Allen, Her accolades include a Brit Award, alongside nominations for a Grammy Award and a Laurence Olivi ...

, Greg Kurstin, and Karen Poole. The play is based on the 1996 book by Helen Fielding and the 2001 film of the same name. The show was in development around 2009–2010 and has had several workshop readings, but no full performances.

Development

In early 2009, a partial production was first performed to a very small audience. As there was no music written for the show at the time, the performance consisted of only dialogue and a few spoken lyrics. The production featured a limited cast including

Harry Enfield Henry Richard Enfield (born 30 May 1961) is an English comedian. He is known in particular for his television work, including '' Harry Enfield's Television Programme'', '' Harry Enfield & Chums'' and '' Harry & Paul'', across which he created ...

and British comedian

Victoria Wood Victoria Wood (19 May 1953 – 20 April 2016) was an English comedian, actress, musician, screenwriter, and director. Wood wrote and starred in dozens of sketches, plays, musicals, films and sitcoms over several decades, and her live comedy act ...

, each playing several parts. Although the script, penned by author of the original books, Helen Fielding, was considered very "raw" and incomplete in some places, the performance was praised by its audience. Representatives for the show's production company, ''

Working Title A working title is a preliminary name for a product or project. The usage is especially common in film and TV, gaming, music and publishing. It is often styled in trade publications as (wt) and is synonymous with production title and tentative ...

'', confirmed that Fielding had officially signed contracts releasing the rights for a musical production to go ahead. In early 2010, it was confirmed that Tony award-winning English theatre and film director and producer

Stephen Daldry Stephen David Daldry Commander of the Order of the British Empire, CBE (born 2 May 1960) is an English director and producer of film, theatre, and television. He has won three Tony Awards for his work on Broadway theatre, Broadway and an Olivie ...

, and Peter Darling would serve as director and choreographer, respectively. The pair had previously worked together on the successful West End and Broadway productions of ''

Billy Elliot ''Billy Elliot'' is a 2000 British coming-of-age Comedy film, comedy-drama film directed by Stephen Daldry and written by Lee Hall (playwright), Lee Hall. Set in County Durham in North East England during the 1984–1985 miners' strike, the fi ...

''.

and Greg Kurstin then wrote the music and lyrics for the show. In April 2014, Allen cast doubt on whether the musical would be performed in an interview with

Popjustice Popjustice is a music website founded in 2000 by UK freelance music journalist Peter Robinson, who has worked for ''NME'', ''The Guardian'', ''Attitude'' and many others. It is composed of the work of editor Robinson, features editor Michael C ...

, saying "It's finished and it's brilliant. But I don't know if it will ever see the light of day." In February 2024, Allen commented on

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that the songs written for the musical were "so good", adding "I have to believe that it will happen one day."

Confirmed songs

*'If I Could Save Her From Her Sadness' (

, Greg Kurstin) *'Wanker!' (Allen, Kurstin, Poole) *'Happy' (Allen, Kurstin, Poole) *'Falling Over Myself' (Allen, Kurstin, Poole) *'YUMMY!' (Allen, Kurstin, Poole)

Production history

After a long period of development on the script and music, a workshop production of the show was held in London in early 2010 featuring Sheridan Smith as Bridget Jones,

Bertie Carvel Robert Hugh Carvel (born 6 September 1977) is a British film and theatre actor. He has twice won a Laurence Olivier Award: for Best Actor in a Leading Role in a Musical for his role as Miss Trunchbull in '' Matilda the Musical'', and for Best ...

as Mark Darcy and Julian Ovenden as Daniel Cleaver. Smith appeared on

BBC One BBC One is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned and operated by the BBC. It is the corporation's oldest and flagship channel, and is known for broadcasting mainstream programming, which includes BBC News television b ...

's ''

The One Show ''The One Show'' is a British television magazine and chat show programme. Broadcast live on BBC One weekdays at 7:00 pm, it features topical stories and studio guests. It is currently co-hosted by Alex Jones, Roman Kemp, Ronan Keating ...

'' on 3 August 2010 and stated that if a

West End theatre West End theatre is mainstream professional theatre staged in the large theatres in and near the West End of London.Christopher Innes"West End"in ''The Cambridge Guide to Theatre'' (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1998), pp. 1194–1195, ...

production of the show were to go ahead, she would accept the title role.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bridget Jones's Diary (Musical) Bridget Jones Musicals based on films Musicals based on multiple works Musicals based on novels Plays based on Pride and Prejudice Musicals set in London 2009 musicals