Dexter actor Michael C Hall is reportedly set to star in David Bowie’s new musical stage show. The stage show is based on the 1976 film The Man Who Fell To Earth, which saw the iconic musician playing the character of an alcoholic alien called Thomas Newton.
The new show, co-written with Irish playwright Enda Walsh, is to be directed by Belgian director Ivo van Hove and will be titled Lazarus.
Above: Bowie as Newton in the original 1976 film.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, Hall – who is best known for playing a murderous forensic scientist in the long-running US TV show Dexter – will portray Newton in the off-Broadway production. Hall recently portrayed Hedwig in last year’s Broadway revival of Hedwig and the Angry Inch – proving that his acting credentials stem to more than just serial killers.
It has also been confirmed that the show will feature new songs by Bowie, as well as new arrangements of older songs. Director van Hove recently told the BBC that the new songs “sound like classics.”
Van Hove said: “Some of the songs sound as if you have heard them for ever – like classics… There are romantic songs – because his songs are deeply romantic – and there are songs about violence and the ugly world surrounding us. That’s what these new songs are about.”
The director also added of the new arrangements of old songs: “[Bowie] told me he is going to give his songs a new skin.” Van Hove also confirmed that Bowie “will not be on stage,” adding: “I don’t think that is the thing he likes most in his life.”
The Man Who Fell To Earth was released in 1976 and saw Bowie starring alongside actors such as Rip Torn, Candy Clark, Buck Henry and Bernie Casey. It was directed by Nicolas Roeg and based on the 1963 novel of the same name by Walter Tevis.
Watch the trailer for the original film below.
