By his own admission, Mark Knopfler is not big on musicals. But he will cop to a “soft spot” for West Side Story. “I fell in love with it when I was a little boy,” he says.
It’s a long way from the Upper West Side of New York to the upper west side of Scotland and the fictional yet wholly believable fishing village of Ferness, location of Bill Forsyth’s much cherished film Local Hero for which the Dire Straits mainman wrote the evocative and equally loved soundtrack. And yet, 35 years down the line, Knopfler has revisited that location for his maiden voyage into musical theatre, writing the music and lyrics for the much anticipated stage adaptation of Local Hero which premieres next month at Edinburgh’s Royal Lyceum Theatre.