David Bowie‘s secret final project has just been revealed.
The iconic singer, who died in 2016 at the age 69 from liver cancer, released the album Blackstar just two days before his death.
What fans didn’t know is that he had another creative project in the works: a musical taking place in the 18th-century London titled The Spectator.
Sticky notes outlining the musical, which were discovered in his New York study in 2016 after his death, have recently been donated to the Victoria and Albert Museum in London. A notebook labeled “Spectator” was also donated to the museum.
The BBC reported that no one close to Bowie knew about The Spectator during his lifetime, however, the singer had mentioned wanting to write for theater during various interviews. In the months prior to his death, Bowie worked on the off-Broadway musical Lazarus, which featured songs from throughout his career.
The Spectator is named after a daily publication that ran between 1711 and 1712 that reported on trends in London. Bowie had taken notes on many issues of the paper, looking for inspiration for his musical.
Bowie was particularly interested in crime and punishment from the time period. Two particular characters he drew up were a petty thief named Jack Sheppard and a vigilante named Jonathan Wild. Bowie also wrote about “surgeons fighting over corpses” after a public hanging.
Another thought Bowie wrote down was an “analogy of greed versus monarchy.” The Gordon Riots and a violent gang called the Mohocks were also part of his notes for the musical.
Bowie’s notes for The Spectator will be available to view at the David Bowie Centre at the Victoria and Albert Museum beginning Saturday, Sept. 13. There will be 200 items on display alongside the tens of thousands of items that are already part of Bowie’s archive.
This story was originally reported by Parade on Sep 5, 2025, where it first appeared in the News section. Add Parade as a Preferred Source by clicking here.
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