I give you Ben Power on Billy Joel:

"Yes dammit, yes - back catalogue musicals are the FUTURE. I want to write one called Queens! based on Elton John's discography.

Its set in an apartment in, you guessed it, Queens, on the night of Marilyn Monroe's death and tells the story of Daniel and Benny, a gay couple having difficulties....

Its about sex, drugs and friendship. A tale of then and now. Of Saturday nights and honky cats. Of sad songs which seem to say so much. Its about walking the yellow brick road all the way back to the Philadelphia freedom you used to know. They are two men, still standing, tiny dancers in a crazy world. Its about fame and pride, about being stuck in the gutter looking at the stars. And its about the death of the most glamorous woman who ever lived. A true candle in the wind.

Good, no?"

Ben (back row, fifth from the right, Dee did you take this?), it's TRANSFORMATIVE it's so good.

Got me thinking of "Prayer", the Madonna musical. We're in the rain in the parking lot of a Las Vegas motel on the evening of December 31st 1999. The motel sign is neon and white, casting an unearthly gleam into the carpark. The electric letters say 'Bethlehem.' In the car young Donna is giving birth. She couldn't afford a room. "Life is a mystery...' And we cut back to the bright arrival of Donna the showgirl in Vegas, looking for her break and herself. She finds the on-off trailer love of Joe, the sound technician on the set of "Herod," the glammy dance show where Donna is a chorus girl. Sequins, highkicks and late night breakfasts. Joe believes in Donna and she can sing. Then Donna becomes pregrant and the dancing becomes difficult, Joe drops a light on the lead's ankle, breaking it, Donna takes a job in a supermarket and converts to Catholicism. The new century is coming and Joe believes the world is going to end. The chips are down but maybe it's a new beginning...