A musical version of hit British comedy film Bend It Like Beckham is to open in the West End in May (15).

The 2002 soccer movie, the breakthrough film for its stars Keira Knightley and Parminder Nagra, is being re-written as a musical by the original director Gurinder Chadha.

He says, "Developing Bend It Like Beckham for the stage has been the most enjoyable creative process of my career so far. It was always my intention to build on the film and to present its themes and storylines to live audiences in an exciting new dynamic way. I believe we are presenting a totally new kind of musical - part West End, part London Punjabi, but whole-heartedly British."

Tickets for the production at the Phoenix Theatre go on sale next week (beg03Nov14). The cast is yet to be announced.