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TV Dragons' Den judges tempted by Dusty The Musical
By Neil Millard, Evening Standard Last updated at 11:15am on 29.07.09A theatre producer will tonight confront the BBC's Dragons' Den millionaires in the hope of staging a musical about Dusty Springfield.
Soul power: Dusty Springfield
Josephine Buchan wants £250,000 to launch a West End show about the Sixties pop star.
Ms Buchan — a former presenter of BBC show Pebble Mill and the granddaughter of 39 Steps creator John Buchan — already has a string of stage musicals to her name.
But with the credit markets in chaos she asks the entrepreneurs for £250,000 in return for 25 per cent of Dusty: A Life In Music. She said: “The public have a voracious appetite for Dusty Springfield. Theo Paphitis immediately said he just downloaded Dusty's album onto his iPod.”
She has the backing of musical director Mike Moran who co-wrote Barcelona with Freddie Mercury, and one of Dusty's backing singers, Simon Bell.
Kent-based Ms Buchan — who once had a fling with GMTV favourite Dr Hilary Jones, her co-presenter on ITV show The Full Treatment — said she hoped the Dragons would be “intrigued” by her proposal.
“A rock band has been on there but I don't think anybody has ever pitched a musical,” she said. “All I can say is I am not disappointed. I come out of it thinking it was a really good experience.”
Dragons' Den is on BBC2 at 9pm.
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Reader views (2)
nobody but kirsten holly smith should do this role. she is the the best dusty alive at this moment on the planet.
- Darrell Larson, new york, new york
We saw Dusty the musical in Melbourne Australia, afew years ago.
It really was brilliant. Definitely should be on in the west end here in London.
- Ange, London
