Rodgers & Hussein? Iraqi Musical in Works

The Iraqi National Theater is preparing to turn a novel apparently written by President Saddam Hussein into a musical touted as the country’s biggest production ever.

Iraqi artists were reportedly rehearsing scenes from “Zabiba and the King,” a patriotic parable about a ruler who falls in love with an unhappily married woman.

Babil, a newspaper owned by Hussein’s son Uday, last month said the president was the most likely author of “Zabiba.” In it, the king’s lover is raped on Jan. 17--the day U.S.-led forces launched the 1991 offensive that drove Iraq out of Kuwait. The king dies after capturing the rapists and avenging Zabiba’s honor.