Irish author Roddy Doyle's bestselling novel The Commitments is finally being made into a musical, more than 25 years after the heartwarming tale of a group of aspiring soul musicians was first published.

The Booker Prize winner's 1987 story about young working class Jimmy Rabbitte's efforts to form the "finest soul act in Dublin" became a hit film in 1991, but Doyle said he turned down a flood of requests to adapt it into a musical at the time.

"So I kind of ignored it for years and then as my children got older and I began to bring them to the occasional musical... I began to enjoy a lot of it," 54-year-old Doyle told reporters at a press launch for the musical on Tuesday.

The musical, which Doyle himself has penned, will preview at London's Palace Theatre starting on September 21.

Doyle said musicals such as Jersey Boys, Billy Elliot and The Producers captured his imagination and kindled his interest in bringing The Commitments to the stage.

"Jersey Boys I found very inspiring because I loved the way the music actually drove the story, it wasn't just story followed by a song followed by story," Doyle said.

Most of the cast members for a show that will be packed with classic soul songs from the film such as Mustang Sally were not even born at the time the novel was set - 1986. Director Jamie Lloyd was only about 6 at the time.

Doyle said he originally did not intend to write the musical himself, but discovered while interviewing other writers that he was answering all his own questions himself and so thought that perhaps he should try to write it himself.

"I kept it to myself and I went home and told my wife that I was thinking of doing the job myself and she said, 'you took your time.'"

Reuters