Hawley describes it as a love letter to his hometown of Sheffield in South Yorkshire.
He will be joined by Tamara Harvey from Theatr Clwyd.
They were selling standing-only tickets for 10 quid, Lord added.
Alistair Natkiel (left) and Alex Young with the company of Olivier award-winning best musical Standing at the Sky’s EdgeJohan Persson.
It became a bona-fide word-of-mouth hit.
Deadline saw evidence of this several times with people milling about at the box office desperate for ticket returns.
For it to explode like that told us it was a universal story, Lord added.
‘Standing at the Sky’s Edge’ cast. Photo by Johan Persson
Its the story of every city that has social housing.
The National received theater programmers from Scandinavia, Japan, China, North America, and elsewhere.
We also had calls from all over asking: how can we be involved?
I was listening in inadvertently and I was just gripped by the story, Lord recalled.
Hawley was intrigued but had major demands: No wafting and no jazz hands.
He meant that he didnt want it to be what he called a musical musical.
He warned me that Id be dead if I allowed that to happen, Lord told us.
He was joking but I knew what he meant.
Early attempts at the show didnt go to plan.
Within 48 hours Bush had come up with a pretty good treatment said Lord.
The key was finding the universal in the particular, Lord observed.
He praised the tenacity and faith of both Sheffield and the National Theatre.
Rufus Norris, artistic chief at the National was extraordinary to stake a risk on us Lord said.
We also need to thank the people of Sheffield for letting us tell their story he added.
