Dog Man: The Musical, based on Dav Pilkey’s bestsellers, to be staged in London

Dog Man, the half-canine crimefighter dreamed up by Captain Underpants author and illustrator Dav Pilkey, is to make his London theatre debut.

A musical based on the bestselling comic books will receive its European premiere at the Southbank Centre next summer. First seen off-Broadway in 2019, it is framed as a show created by best friends George and Harold, the duo Pilkey presents as the comic’s creators. Drawing on instalments from the series including A Tale of Two Kitties and Lord of the Fleas, the plot brings together familiar characters from the irreverent Dog Man world such as the dastardly cat Petey, his clone Lil’ Petey, the robot 80-HD and the cyborg fish Flippy.

‘Breezily directed’ … a scene from the US tour of Dog Man: The Musical. Photograph: Jeremy Daniel

The musical, aimed at over-fives, had several sell-out seasons off-Broadway and also toured the US. Its arrival in London will mark 10 years since the publication of the first Dog Man book. The character of a badly injured policeman who emerges from surgery newly sporting the head of his trusty mutt had previously appeared in Captain Underpants.

Reviewing the 2019 production of the musical at the Lucille Lortel theatre, the New York Times’ Laurel Graeber wrote: “Breezily directed and choreographed by Jen Wineman, the show benefits from Tim Mackabee’s designs for the set and some small puppets, which preserve the novel’s comic-book feel.” Graeber praised Brad Alexander’s “high-energy score” and how lyricist Kevin Del Aguila imaginatively “preserved the novel’s wry parody of Charles Dickens”.

The Dog Man series has sold more than 70m copies worldwide and has been translated into around 50 languages. A movie, Dog Man, and a video game, Dog Man: Mission Impawsible, were both released in the last year. The 14th book in the series, Big Jim Believes, was published in November.

Pilkey said that the musical “surpassed my highest expectations” and left the audience “especially me, in complete awe”. He described the show as “the perfect mash-up of memorable music, humour and love”. Dog Man: The Musical is at the Southbank Centre, London, from 30 July to 16 August.