Nanny McPhee the Musical

Widowed and out of options, Cedric Brown has run out of nannies: his seven children have driven away every one hired to look after them. Then a stranger arrives at the door, warty and snaggle-toothed and leaning on a black stick, announcing that she has come to teach the household five lessons. The children resist all five. As they learn them anyway, the nanny's face begins to change. Nanny McPhee is a new musical version of the story, and its first outing on stage.

The book and lyrics are by Emma Thompson, who wrote and starred in the 2005 film and who won Academy Awards for Howards End and for her screenplay for Sense and Sensibility. The music is by songwriter Gary Clark, and Katy Rudd, who directed The Ocean at the End of the Lane for the National Theatre and in the West End, directs. The characters come from Christianna Brand's Nurse Matilda books. Casting and the London theatre are still to be announced.