Entitled The Pianist, the production is written and directed by Thom Southerland and features Szpilman's own music with new lyrics, freshly orchestrated by Simon Lee, Andrew Lloyd-Webber's long time musical director.
Park Theatre writes on its website that the production "follows one man's extraordinary journey from the vibrancy of pre-war Warsaw through its destruction — sustained and lifted by music, memory, and an unbreakable will to live."
In its preview of the show, Time Out magazine writes that Southerland’s musical combines an adaptation of Szpilman’s memoir, which was adapted into Roman Polanski’s Oscar-winning 2002 film, with Szpilman's own compositions, which were popular in pre-World War II Warsaw.
The magazine adds: "More so than the movie, Southerland's The Pianist will focus on this happier period in Szpilman’s life, contrasting it with his later hard-fought survival in the Warsaw ghetto, where he evaded the concentration camps that claimed his whole family thanks to the patronage of a German soldier named Wilm Hosenfeld."
Among those who contributed new lyrics for the musical is Szpilman's son, Andrzej Szpilman. He has also given the show his blessing as a producing partner.
In his notes for The Pianist, he writes that it is "far more than the testimony of a survivor … it is a musical about an artist from whom everything was meant to be taken — except his music."
Andrzej Szpilman adds: "The singularity of this production is rooted in its music. No songs had to be invented to tell Szpilman’s life story. They were already there. They were part of his life.
"From a catalogue of some 500 compositions, more than 20 outstanding songs have been selected for the stage. The result is something rare in musical theatre: an organic union of biography and music. These songs do not stand outside the drama, commenting retrospectively upon it. They come from the very world the story brings back to life."
The title role in the production is played by Daniel Krikler, who said in a press statement that he "couldn't be more honoured and excited to be bringing Wladysław's life to the stage, especially in a way that truly celebrates his own compositions through phenomenal live musicians and orchestrations."
As well as being "a timely reminder of what happens when we dehumanise a particular section of society," Szpilman's story "demonstrates the true universality and power of music," Krikler said.
A total of eight performances are scheduled at Park Theatre until November 28.
Born in 1911, Szpilman studied piano and composition in Warsaw and Berlin. He worked at Polish Radio for four years until September 23, 1939, when he performed music by Fryderyk Chopin live on air for the final time before the station ceased broadcasting following German bombardments.
Szpilman was later forced into the Warsaw Ghetto along with his parents, two sisters and brother, all of whom perished in the Holocaust.
He survived the war and, in its final months, found shelter in the ruins of Warsaw with the help of Polish friends and German army officer Wilm Hosenfeld.
After the war, Szpilman served as director of Polish Radio’s music department for nearly two decades and later was a member of the Warsaw Piano Quintet.
His compositional output includes around 500 songs, many of which became popular hits, as well as several symphonic works.
Szpilman published his wartime memoir shortly after World War II, but the book was soon banned by Poland's Stalinist authorities.
It was republished by Szpilman's son in 1998 in German and English and has since been translated into more than 30 languages.
The memoir was adapted into the Oscar-winning 2002 film The Pianist, directed by Polanski and starring Adrien Brody.
Szpilman died in Warsaw in 2000 at the age of 88.
(mk/gs)