Emma Thompson is writing and directing a stage musical adaptation of children's movie Nanny McPhee.

The British actress wrote the screenplays and starred as the titular snaggle-toothed nanny, who transforms the lives of a widower and his seven troublesome children, in the 2005 movie of the same name and its 2010 sequel Nanny McPhee and the Big Bang.

She has now written a script for a stage musical adaptation, which she is both "excited and naturally nervous" about directing. She also told Britain's Daily Mail newspaper she is currently writing lyrics for the musical numbers alongside Scottish singer/songwriter Gary Clark, best known for his work on musical film Sing Street, who is composing the score.

As she is doing so much behind-the-scenes, the Love Actually star won't be reprising the character onstage, and she gave the newspaper no hints about who would play the nanny, who has magical powers to rid the children of their worst habits.

She added that the cast and crew, including producers Eric Fellner and Tim Bevan from Working Title Films, which produced the Nanny McPhee movies, recently held a workshop of the first act as part of the development process.
"We've just held a workshop of the first act," she said, "and we'll do the second act in October."

According to the publication, it will be at least a year before the production, which looks set for London's West End, goes into rehearsal.

Emma, 58, is a seasoned writer, winning an Oscar for Best Adapted Screenplay in 1996 for Sense and Sensibility, in which she also starred. In March (18), it was reported that the actress, who also wrote films Effie Gray and Bridget Jones's Baby, was developing a script of Harrow's Valley for the small screen. The original script for the period horror thriller was written by the now-deceased Walter Newman in the 1960s but never saw the light of the day.

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