Harry writes new song for 'Desperately Seeking Susan'

In an Eighties collaboration to set the pulses of forty-somethings racing, Debbie Harry is to join the ranks of rock stars lending their music to the West End by providing the soundtrack for a musical version of the Madonna film Desperately Seeking Susan.

The lead singer of Blondie has produced new material for the production, as well as allowing 18 of the best-known songs from the New Wave band's back catalogue to be used. The 62-year-old singer's new song is called "Moment of Truth", and is apparently "based on an R&B idea". In the musical it will be supplemented by classics such as "Heart of Glass", "One Way or Another", "Atomic", "The Tide Is High", and "Dreaming".

Speaking at the launch party for the show in London yesterday, Harry said: "The story just works with the lyrics. I thought it was a good idea, really smart. I would love it to come to Broadway. Hopefully it will be a huge success. It's a live show so it's going to be different to the film, probably more light-hearted. It's such a thrill to be part of it. It's about people making discoveries about themselves."

The 1985 film, which cost less than £3m to make, was one of the key factors in Madonna's meteoric rise to fame, following the release of her pop single "Holiday". The fashion accessories that Madonna wore for the part of Susan, which included lacy gloves, rubber bracelets and giant hair bows, came from her own wardrobe and set the trend for a bohemian look that became commonplace in the mid-1980s. The film's West End version looks set to cement the film's cult status.

But the show's producer, Susan Gallin, said she had not thought originally that the revival was a good idea: "MGM had sent me the idea the year before, and it didn't strike me that it needed to be musicalised. But when the idea of using Blondie's music came along it was a different story. It's almost as though her songs were written for the movie."

The producer was unconcerned by the criticism that other West End tie-in shows have received, saying: "Of course, there's a risk that people will say it's a 'two-bucks' musical, but it just works, and I think everyone will have a great time."

Ms Gallin said the idea was greeted with enthusiasm by Harry. "I asked Debbie if I could send her the treatment, that was a Friday, and by Monday she called me and said: 'It's great, I love it. Let's do it.'" Ms Gallin said the production, which opens at the Novello, Theatre on 12 October, would be "very close" to the film. Emma Williams, 24, is playing the role of Susan, while Kelly Price plays the obsessive New Jersey housewife who becomes fascinated by her. Ms Williams had not seen the film when it came out. "I was too young", she explained, "I only saw it at our first workshop."