Elvis Costello is eyeing a 2014 launch date for a stage musical he is writing with Burt Bacharach.

The pair first collaborated on the song God Give Me Strength in 1996 and this led to the 1998 album Painted From Memory on which the forthcoming musical is being based.

“The book they call it in the musicals is nearly complete,” Costello tells Music Week. “The first act has been written. We’re working with that and the second is in draft ...