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Hot on the heels of news of fresh Bond comic stories, a musical adaptation of the James Bond phenomenon is on the way, according to reports in Playbill – although Danjaq say it isn’t!

Original EON producer Harry Saltzman’s daughter Merry is behind the project and told the theatre magazine that she has secured the rights to produce a stage version. The show will have a book by novelist Dave Clarke (Keeping Hannah Waiting), and music and lyrics by country composer Jay Henry Weisz (“Driving Home,” “Only One,” “Man in the Bar,” “The Fight”).

James Bond: The Musical will have an original storyline, producers told Playbill, and will use “several Bond villains, plus some new ones.”

“Production schedules and trial runs are still being worked out in anticipation of a late 2017-early 2018 opening,” on Broadway or in Las Vegas, at a venue to be announced, Saltzman said. The show will also introduce “our own Bond girl,” she said. No casting has been announced.

Attempts have been made to bring Bond to the stage before: Bond novelist Raymond Benson penned a dramatisation of Ian Fleming’s first book, Casino Royale, although that remains unproduced.

Updated at 1045 BST:

“Danjaq LLC and Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Inc confirm they have not licensed any rights to Merry Saltzman or her production company to create a James Bond musical. Danjaq and MGM jointly control all live stage rights in the Bond franchise, and therefore no James Bond stage show may be produced without their permission.”