Will Indie Rockers The Decemberists Pen a Broadway Musical?

Indie rock darlings The Decemberists may have a Broadway musical on the horizon, according to Billboard.com. Decemberists vocalist/guitarist Colin Meloy reveals that American Idiot and Spring Awakening director Michael Mayer contacted him with the idea of writing a theater piece. "We're still talking,” says Meloy, “and there's potential for a musical down the line, for sure."

Meloy's original idea was to write about miners in Butte, Montana, around the turn of the century, he says. At least one song born from that idea was written, but ultimately made its way on to The Decemberists upcoming album instead. No alternative plotline for Mayer's proposed show has been revealed.

"People are constantly asking me to write musicals—it's the cross that I bear," said Meloy. "I grew up doing theater, so in theory, I would love to write a musical. I don't know if I have the stuff—I always end up just writing little pop songs that stand a better chance on a record than on stage." The band’s 2009 album The Hazards of Love, which presents a continuous story in song, was originally conceived as a musical, Meloy told Paste magazine in 2008, but he ended up changing direction after deciding it would work better as a rock album.

The King Is Dead, the Decemberists' sixth studio effort, will be released on January 16, 2011.