By Zanub Saeed
The Spice Girls reunited once more, not to announce a new tour or album, but to promote the upcoming production of "Viva Forever!" a London musical featuring some of the pop group's hit songs.
All five Spice Girls, including Victoria Beckham, Melanie Brown, Emma Bunton, Melanie Chisholm and Geri Halliwell, attended a press call to announce the musical, written by comedian Jennifer Saunders of "Absolutely Fabulous" fame. The musical, according to a report in the BBC, will detail the "bitter reality of fame" and focus on a television talent reality show. The musical will open on December 11, 2012 at London's Piccadilly Theatre in their famed West End district.
"[Saunders] understands the anxieties in women, the fear of judgment and trepidation that one day they get to a certain age and become invisible," Judy Craymer, producer of Abba musical Mamma Mia!, and now "Viva Forever!" said to the BBC on Tuesday.
According to one of its producers, said the BBC, "Viva Forever!" follows "the story of a beautiful, talented girl and her best friends who get swept up in the obsession of today's TV celebrity culture."
The musical "charts her journey into the world of overnight fame and its impact on her relationships with her mother and the friends she thought she'd have forever."
"Viva Forever!" is the newest type of "jukebox" musicals, noted the BBC, where famous songs sung by bands and groups are integrated into on-stage productions to tell a story, like "Mamma Mia!" and "We Will Rock You" before it.
Craymer admitted that all five Spice Girls supported the idea for the musical, and encouraged the production team to move further with it.
"The positivity, energy, humor, excitement and friendships that encapsulated the Spice Girls and their songs have inspired the whole creative team," Craymer said to the BBC.
So far no one has been cast in the musical, which is set to have its first previews beginning November 27.
