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LONDON— London’s West End is developing an Irish lilt.

 

The Tony Award-winning Dublin-set musical “Once” is a hit, and on Tuesday producers announced a long-awaited stage version of the Irish soul saga “The Commitments.”

 

Roddy Doyle’s 1987 novel about a bunch of working-class Dubliners who form an unlikely soul band was made into a successful 1991 movie. But a stage adaptation has been a long time coming.

 

Doyle says it’s partly because the huge success of “The Commitments” made it “something of a monster” from which he needed a break.

 

And, he admits, he never really liked musicals. He changed his mind after seeing shows such as “Jersey Boys,” in which “the music actually drove the story.”

 

“The Commitments” opens at the Palace Theatre in London on Oct. 8.