Barrie Wentzell

The idea of a stage musical shaped around the songbook of David Bowie may sound like a beautiful moonage daydream, but it apparently won’t come to fruition unless the godfather of glam rock ch-ch-ch-ch-changes his mind.

Over the weekend The Guardian reported that a futuristic production called “Heroes: The Musical” was headed to London next year, based on many of Mr. Bowie’s best-known songs. The musical, as described by its author, Deep Singh, was to feature characters including the starman and a “young dude” named David, villainous Diamond Dogs and a band that would perform about 20 Bowie tracks like “The Man Who Sold the World,” “Let’s Dance” and of course “Heroes.” Matthew Gould was named as its director and choreographer, and a March premiere at the IndigO2 was planned, according to the report.

“We could not really believe it when they gave us permission,” Mr. Singh told The Guardian. “His people had warned us that it was very unlikely that he would be interested and that he had been asked many times before.”

But ground control to Major Tom – your circuit’s dead, there’s something wrong: in a brief statement Mr. Bowie’s representatives said that he had not consented to this project. “Neither the David Bowie Organization, nor its co-publishers EMI Music and Chrysalis, has issued a license for a Bowie musical at the O2, as has been reported in the U.K.,” the statement said. “There are no negotiations pending for a long-running musical featuring the music of Mr. Bowie.”

Until then, there is always Mr. Bowie’s spontaneous musical number composed for Ricky Gervais, from his HBO series “Extras.”