The Wire creator goes from Baltimore to Broadway

HBO golden boy David Simon is moving from the mean streets of Baltimore to a ghostly musical set in New York’s Hell’s Kitchen.

Set to the soundtrack of Celtic punk band The Pogues, the as-yet-untitled stage musical was written by Simon and his wife, crime novelist Laura Lippman.

The Pogues’ Spider Tracy, who starred in Simon’s Katrina-themed show Treme, said the idea had been in the works for a while.

“David’s had various TV projects which have obviously taken precedence because this is a long process,” he said.

“We’re on the final script stage. It’s been drafted and redrafted, drafted and redrafted countless times.”

The musical will be set in an Irish pub in the iconic Hell’s Kitchen neighbourhood of 90s New York, featuring a number of ghosts.

Stacy said it would first open on Broadway, before hopefully crossing the Atlantic to the UK and Ireland.

The Wire, starring Idris Elba and Dominic West, aired between 2002 and 2008, and is commonly referenced as one of the main shows of TV’s second golden age.

Stacy showed interest in making a cameo in the play, but said there were no plans to at this stage and is instead serving as a consultant to the project.

“It’s a bit intimidating,” he said of working with Simon.

“This is the guy who created the Wire and kind of knows what he’s talking about.”