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My Chemical Romance appear to be developing a new project connected to the theatre world.
The influential emo band, who are currently performing their landmark 2006 album The Black Parade on a global tour celebrating its 20th anniversary, may now be preparing to adapt their music for the stage alongside playwright and performer John Cameron Mitchell.
Mitchell, known for writing, directing, and starring in the 2001 production Hedwig and the Angry Inch, revealed on the Only Child podcast that he has been collaborating with the group on what he described as “a project for theatre”.
He added: “It’s a little secret. It’s not announced yet, but you know I’m gonna give you a little zzzt there. That’s all you’re getting."
While he did not go into specifics and said there are still agreements to finalise, he also spoke highly about working with the I'm Not Okay (I Promise) musicians.
He added: “And you know, we still gotta sign stuff, but they’re great people. They’re so luxurious now that they do one [show] a week.”
At this point, My Chemical Romance, consisting of Ray Toro, Frank Iero, along with brothers Gerard and Mikey Way, have not publicly addressed the reported stage project.
If the production moves forward, they would join Green Day, whose American Idiot stage adaptation based on their 2004 album enjoyed a Broadway run of more than 400 performances between 2010 and 2011 before later touring.
The concept of turning The Black Parade into a musical has been discussed for years, and in 2021 vocalist Gerard spoke about the idea in an interview.
He told Travis Mills on Apple Music 1: “There were talks very early about some kind of animated musical.
"Then there was talks a decade or so later about a musical. But the person who approached me about this musical there said, ‘Are you ever interested in doing Black Parade as a musical?’
"I was like, ‘To be honest with you, I think it’s too soon,’ at the time. I was like, ‘I don’t think the record has lived long enough.’ ”
Recently, the band also caught fans’ attention after clearing all posts from their X account, which led to rumours that fresh material might be coming.
If confirmed, it would mark their first new release since the 2022 track The Foundations of Decay, which was their first original song since 2014’s farewell single Fake Your Death after their initial breakup.
Their last full length studio album remains 2010’s Danger Days: The True Lives of the Fabulous Killjoys, though they did release five double A-side singles in 2013 as part of the Conventional Weapons collection.
