daveid wrote: Mon 23 Feb 2026, 3:47 pm
I assume so as it's another ballet based on Hans Christian Anderson
According to Neil it’s not a ballet or a musical but a play with music.
It’s interesting that their main two collaborators for Naked seem to be Javier de Frutos again - so presumably it does have a dance element - and the playwright Amy Ng. Amy’s CV definitely suggests the show’s political theme will be to the fore.
“Amy Ng is a writer whose plays include: Shanghai Dolls (Paines Plough & Kiln Theatre, London, 2025); Shangri-La (Finborough Theatre, London, 2016); Shoes (Soho Theatre); Special Occasions (St. James Theatre and Arcola Theatre) and A Little Night Music (Bread and Roses Theatre and The Space).
She is also a historian with a research interest in multinational empires, imperial decline, and nationality conflict, and is the author of Nationalism and Political Liberty (Oxford University Press).”
daveid wrote: Mon 23 Feb 2026, 3:47 pm
I assume so as it's another ballet based on Hans Christian Anderson
According to Neil it’s not a ballet or a musical but a play with music.
It’s interesting that their main two collaborators for Naked seem to be Javier de Frutos again - so presumably it does have a dance element - and the playwright Amy Ng. Amy’s CV definitely suggests the show’s political theme will be to the fore.
“Amy Ng is a writer whose plays include: Shanghai Dolls (Paines Plough & Kiln Theatre, London, 2025); Shangri-La (Finborough Theatre, London, 2016); Shoes (Soho Theatre); Special Occasions (St. James Theatre and Arcola Theatre) and A Little Night Music (Bread and Roses Theatre and The Space).
She is also a historian with a research interest in multinational empires, imperial decline, and nationality conflict, and is the author of Nationalism and Political Liberty (Oxford University Press).”
I hope it’s not a musical. If it is then there won’t be a Tennant/Lowe album, it’ll be another dreadful ‘cast’ recording album. At least if it’s a ballet there’ll be a PSB or Tennant/Lowe soundtrack album released!
Last edited by canveyboy on Sun 01 Mar 2026, 10:44 pm, edited 1 time in total.
canveyboy wrote: Mon 23 Feb 2026, 10:48 pmI hope it’s not a musical. If it is then there won’t be a Tennant/Lowe album, it’ll be another dreadful ‘cast’ recording album. At least if it’s a ballet they’ll be a PSB or Tennant/Lowe soundtrack album released!
This is a great point - I'd much rather a Tennant/Lowe album than something like Closer to Heaven!
canveyboy wrote: Mon 23 Feb 2026, 10:48 pmI hope it’s not a musical. If it is then there won’t be a Tennant/Lowe album, it’ll be another dreadful ‘cast’ recording album. At least if it’s a ballet they’ll be a PSB or Tennant/Lowe soundtrack album released!
This is a great point - I'd much rather a Tennant/Lowe album than something like Closer to Heaven!
Agreed. I'd rather hear the CTH demos over the cast recording.
Retro.
"Politics are too emotional now. Contemporary culture generally is too emotional, really... I'd rather people looked to the truth." (Neil Tennant)
canveyboy wrote: Mon 23 Feb 2026, 10:48 pm
I hope it’s not a musical. If it is then there won’t be a Tennant/Lowe album, it’ll be another dreadful ‘cast’ recording album. At least if it’s a ballet they’ll be a PSB or Tennant/Lowe soundtrack album released!
From The Guardian interview, 2024: “What we’ve got is a whole stage show called Naked, based on The Emperor’s New Clothes,” says Tennant. “It’s tune-central!”
I don’t actually think we’re looking at a musical in the Closer To Heaven sense. Although whether it’s a “musical” or a “play with music” will most likely come down to semantics, and whether the songs drive the plot forward or accompany it.
This is interesting, from Javier De Frutos’s Instagram last year: “… a brand new work by Amy Ng and Neil himself with an original score by Pet Shop Boys.”
He definitely differentiates between the book, written by Amy and Neil, and the PSB “score”.
Btw, here are the tracks we know that are written for it, as covered in Annually:
Lullaby
Bouncing off the walls (instrumental)
Rough with the smooth
I dream of a better tomorrow
The naked truth
Funeral
No one’s got nothing to hide
Uprising (instrumental)
How did I get here?
The spell is broken
Dog wrote: Tue 24 Feb 2026, 7:05 am
From The Guardian interview, 2024: “What we’ve got is a whole stage show called Naked, based on The Emperor’s New Clothes,” says Tennant. “It’s tune-central!”
I don’t actually think we’re looking at a musical in the Closer To Heaven sense. Although whether it’s a “musical” or a “play with music” will most likely come down to semantics, and whether the songs drive the plot forward or accompany it.
This is interesting, from Javier De Frutos’s Instagram last year: “… a brand new work by Amy Ng and Neil himself with an original score by Pet Shop Boys.”
He definitely differentiates between the book, written by Amy and Neil, and the PSB “score”.
Btw, here are the tracks we know that are written for it, as covered in Annually:
Lullaby
Bouncing off the walls (instrumental)
Rough with the smooth
I dream of a better tomorrow
The naked truth
Funeral
No one’s got nothing to hide
Uprising (instrumental)
How did I get here?
The spell is broken
telys wrote: Tue 24 Feb 2026, 9:06 am
From how he phrases it in the interview I cannot draw any other conclusion than that A Man From The Future will be a PSB release, not a Tennant/Lowe.
When it was advertised and I went to see it in 2014 (I think?) it was 100% pushed and promoted as ‘the Pet Shop Boys Prom’. And it’s not any sort of a score, really, more a narrative performance, albeit largely instrumental. Also I just think ‘Pet Shop Boys’ as a brand carries a lot more weight in 2026 than it did in 2003/4 and it’s immediately more marketable (to a limited audience, perhaps, but still an audience) as another Pet Shop Boys project rather than ‘Tennant/Lowe’, which will ring a bell with some people but overall sounds drier and has far less immediate recognition.
telys wrote: Tue 24 Feb 2026, 9:06 am
From how he phrases it in the interview I cannot draw any other conclusion than that A Man From The Future will be a PSB release, not a Tennant/Lowe.
When it was advertised and I went to see it in 2014 (I think?) it was 100% pushed and promoted as ‘the Pet Shop Boys Prom’. And it’s not any sort of a score, really, more a narrative performance, albeit largely instrumental. Also I just think ‘Pet Shop Boys’ as a brand carries a lot more weight in 2026 than it did in 2003/4 and it’s immediately more marketable (to a limited audience, perhaps, but still an audience) as another Pet Shop Boys project rather than ‘Tennant/Lowe’, which will ring a bell with some people but overall sounds drier and has far less immediate recognition.
You could imagine Parlophone being keen for it to be a PSB release. He Dreamed Of Machines could even be a single. I wouldn’t be surprised if they played it at the Obscure dates.
daveid wrote: Sat 21 Feb 2026, 10:28 pm
I think they've already said it'll be Juliet Stevenson again.
I thought 2027 was a little optimistic for a new studio album as it's been every four years pretty much for the past 20 years
2002 Release
2006 Fundy (4 years)
Yes 2009 (3 years)
Elysium/Electric 2012/13 (3/4 years)
Hotspot 2020 (4 years)
Nonetheless 2024 (4 years)
telys wrote: Mon 23 Feb 2026, 11:17 am
Agenda had a song about not forgetting the plight of children and preserving our humanity and empathy when seeing children suffering.
Another song about the negative consequences of social media (written from the perspective of somebody with the experience of a society without social media online, some would call that wisdom)
Another song probably criticising the world's most powerful leader. If you are the most powerful leader in the world as well as democratically elected, you are supposed to take critique. But the song also in a broader sense discuss the problem of leading politicians not listening to science, evidence and experience. This is a fact that is being discussed more and more, not at least on a scientific level (social science).
The fourth song adresses the world's new elite class, the superwealthy. PSB are not part of this class. Noone on this forum is part of this class in society. The Epstein files reveal in large part how this new super elite class behave, not only being super rich but also being morally and politically depraved.
If you can't take this coming from your favourite band, well then you have been infected with overwhelming ideology, preventing you from analysing reality
Utter genius....love it.