Doctor Dee, a new stage musical penned by Blur frontman and Gorillaz mastermind Damon Albarn, is set to debut at England's Manchester International Festival in July.

The show, which is based upon the life of the 16th-century alchemist, astrologer and spy John Dee, is Albarn's second musical theater show, but the first that he will star in. His previous production, Monkey: Journey to the West, was a Chinese opera made in collaboration with the director Chen Shi-zheng and Albarn's Gorillaz partner Jamie Hewlett.

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Doctor Dee, which is said to be a large-scale spectacle with anthemic songs, will be staged at the English National Opera after its premiere at the Manchester International Festival.

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