Smith Hopes Lane or Sher Will Play Kafka in New Musical

By Andrew Gans
28 Dec 2004

"White Teeth" novelist Zadie Smith is currently at work on a new musical about the life of Franz Kafka.

The New York Times reports that Smith is collaborating on the project with her husband, poet Nick Laird. The untitled Kafka musical will focus on three influential women in the life of the writer best known for penning "The Metamorphosis."

About the musical, Smith told British magazine Dazed and Confused, "It's not exactly a cheery, high-kicking affair. It'll need some good actors like Nathan Lane or Anthony Sher." She would also like the show to run at London's Royal National Theatre, adding, "God knows who wants to watch a musical about Kafka. We'll have to wait and see, I guess."

Smith is also the author of "The Autograph Man," which won the Jewish Quarterly Literary Prize for Fiction in 2003. Her upcoming novel, "On Beauty," is due in stores in 2005.