New musical to explore intimate portrait of Marilyn Monroe and Arthur Miller's marriage

Leicester's Curve theatre is to stage a new musical next autumn offering a nuanced, intimate portrait of the 1956 marriage between Hollywood star Marilyn Monroe and playwright Arthur Miller, a union once mocked in the press as pairing an "hourglass" with an "egghead."

The production, titled Misfits Together, takes its name from the film Miller wrote for Monroe, released shortly after their 1961 divorce. It marks the musical theatre debut of two indie musicians, Dan Smith of Bastille and Ralph Pelleymounter of To Kill a King, who have already recorded the score as a studio album. Its first single, Oh America, is released Thursday.

Smith and Pelleymounter originally set out to write a musical about 1950s America more broadly, but after sharing their songs with librettist Charlotte Bogard Macleod, the focus shifted to Miller and Monroe's relationship. Macleod said she had long admired Miller's refusal to name names before the House Un-American Activities Committee, at great personal cost. Research also revealed that Monroe played a far more central, supportive role than commonly acknowledged, including running her own production company.

The musical will explore how Monroe, despite rising from foster care to global fame, was repeatedly diminished to the image of a glamorous bombshell. It also draws parallels between the political "othering" of the 1950s red scare and similar dynamics in the US today, including a song reflecting Miller and director Elia Kazan's frustration with manipulative political rhetoric.

Other historical figures appear in the show, including actor Laurence Olivier, who co-starred with Monroe in The Prince and the Showgirl. The production, staged with Tila Arts and directed by Curve artistic director Nikolai Foster, will run at Curve's Studio theatre from 4-25 September 2027.