A 'big part' in Eric Idle show

Russell Brand is to star in a stage musical written by Eric Idle.

He will appear in an cast alongside Eddie Izzard, Billy Connolly, Tracey Ullman, Tim Curry, Frasier’s Jane Leeves and Peep Show’s Sophie Winkleman in the Los Angeles production of What About Dick?

Brand takes the title role of Dick, an Oxford student pursuing philosophy and gynaecology.

Idle has been working on the show, which has been described as ‘‘a lowbrow comedy about highbrow people’, for several years. Six years ago he staged public run-throughs in Los Angeles featuring much of the current, all-British, cast – although Brand is a new addition.

The production, set in the early 20th Century, will be staged at at the Orpheum Theatre in April as a radio play, with actors reading from scripts. It will be filmed for release on DVD.

Idle told the Los Angeles Times: ‘It's essentially the same idea as before, but the part of Dick got bigger - if I'm allowed to say that’.

Published: 20 Feb 2012