British magazine editors working in America who wanted to see Babyshamble Pete Doherty and Dirty Pretty Thing Carl Barat reunite the Libertines and save rock’n'roll won’t have to wait much longer. The pair is hard at work on… a musical! Britain’s illustrious Donmar Warehouse has commissioned the former bandmates to write a fresh bunch of numbers about the early days of a troubled rock band. Gee, where will they come up with ideas?

A spokesperson for the Donmar said that “we are excited to be engaging with such brilliant talent”, adding that the theatre’s associate director, the actor Douglas Hodge, is working with the pair with “no deadlines attached”. But, according to Barat – who said last month that he was to spend a week at Doherty’s Wiltshire home working on the project – Hodge’s expectations are high. “The theatre wants lots of new songs,” Barat said. “We’ll probably have to write about 20. But first we have to sit down and think about the rock’n'roll story.”

Despite the lack of a deadline, the Donmar is hoping for an early 2009 debut. It didn’t take long for these guys to go from “underground rock heroes” to showtunes, did it?

Pete Doherty to write rock’n'roll musical with former Libertines bandmate [Guardian]