When David Bowie passed away, he had a final stage production planned, but it didn’t go as planned. Nine years after his death, the project has been made public.
David Bowie was working on a secret final project when he died – a musical about the 18th century.
Called The Spectator, its entire existence was unknown to even his closest friends. But notes were discovered locked in his study in 2016 including dozens of sticky post-it notes with ideas for his musical, which could be moved around to create a structure. They have now been donated to the V&A Museum, with the rest of David Bowie’s archive.
Shared with the BBC, the notes and an accompanying notebook shows Bowie’s fascination with the development of art and satire in 18th Century London, as well as stories of criminal gangs including the notorious thief “Honest” Jack Sheppard.
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Unfortunately, the musical didn’t come to fruition until Bowie passed away in January 2016 because it had missed one of Bowie’s long-achieved goals. In 2002, he told BBC Radio 4’s John Wilson, “I really wanted to write for theatre.” And I suppose I could have just written for a theater in my living room, but I believe the goal was always to have a sizable audience.
Bowie had already pinned his notes to the walls of his New York office just as he had left them.
Bowie and his personal assistant were the only ones who had a key in the locked room until archivists began cataloguing his belongings, but they remained there for months.
When the David Bowie Centre opens at the V&, A East Storehouse in Hackney Wick on September 13th, fans and academics can view the notes.
More than 90,000 items from Bowie’s life will be displayed at the exhibition’s opening, including a note from the singer revealing his thoughts on Oasis and why the band struggled to survive in America.
A letter from his father, a rejection letter from Apple Records, and more than 400 clothing items are also included in the Bowie exhibition. Freddie Burretti wore an ice-blue suit for the Life on Mars video in 1972, among other things. and a Kansai Yamamoto bodysuit with a rabbit-print on it that was worn during his 1972 performance at the London Rainbow Theatre as Ziggy Stardust.
A framed black-and-white photograph of Little Richard in full performance frenzy and a large number of fan letters he kept are present. Bowie, who passed away in January 2016, described the photo as one of his most prized possessions.
* V&, A East Storehouse will host The David Bowie Center on September 13. Access is provided by a free ticket that must be pre-purchased.
Source: Mirror
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