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Enid Blyton’s Famous Five gang are to become a West End stage show, after Old Vic Productions secured the rights from Hachette.
According to a Sunday Times report, the production company is still in the planning stage but the show will probably be a musical.
Bruce Walker, a director of Old Vic Productions, which is not part of the Old Vic theatre, said: “We are working very hard on this. We want to stay faithful to what the books represent, but we also recognise that the show must work for a contemporary audience. It’s all about getting that balance.”
Hachette UK acquired the Enid Blyton estate, excluding Noddy, in 2007. The publisher now handles most of her best-loved series, such as Malory Towers, Secret Seven and Naughtiest Girl, as well as the Famous Five series, which is about four cousins and the adventures they go with Timmy the dog.
The first Famous Five story, Five On a Treasure Island, appeared in 1942 and Blyton went on to write a further 20 books in the series. The final book, Five Are Together Again, was published in 1963.
The musical will follow a series of smash-hit productions based on children’s properties. Musicals based on Roald Dahl’s Matilda and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory are currently on in London, while the "Chitty Chitty Bang Bang" musical ran in London between 2002 and 2005 before moving to Broadway in New York.