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Geoffrey Rush is set to play Lionel Bart, the composer-lyricist behind the score to the infamous musical “Oliver!”
The musical drama is titled “Consider Yourself: The Lionel Bart Story” and will also star Stephen Fry, Olivia Colman, Eddie Marsan, Matt Lucas, Michelle Dockery and Al Weaver.
Vadim Jean will helm with Good Universe launching international sales at the Berlin Film Festival next week.
“Consider Yourself” (by the way, if that title sounds familiar, you may recognise it as the name of the well-known song from “Oliver!”) follows the story of the untrained musician who couldn’t read or write music, yet became the first person to have three West End musicals running. Despite at one point earning more in song royalties than the Beatles, Bart lost it all after backing a string of flops.
Weaver will play the young Bart with Rush portraying the composer in his later years.
Elliot Davis will pen the script and will write the music and original score with Martin Koch.
Deadline first reported the news.
