A LEE journalist’s musical homage to George Orwell has been snapped up by a stateside theatre.

Peter Cordwell, 66, had no background in music or theatre when he was persuaded by Greenwich Theatre’s director James Haddrell to pursue his idea of a cabaret-style show dedicated to his hero, and now it will be staged for five nights at Teatro Latea in the trendy Lower East Side of New York next September.

A journalist for 46 years, Peter said: “I could not be more excited.

“I always wanted to go to New York – I’m a big Bob Dylan fan and loved JD Salinger’s Catcher in the Rye – and there’s no better way of doing it than this.”

One Georgie Orwell, which he wrote with musician Carl Picton, features eight original songs and debuted at Greenwich Theatre last year, before going on to Charlton House this June on Orwell’s 110th birthday and the WriteIdea Festival in Tower Hamlets in November.

Peter said: “We’re hoping to go the Henley Fringe next summer and basically we’d put it on anywhere.

“Orwell was a great, great man and his message will never fade. Hardly a day goes by without some reference to his influence.”

The show was snapped up in New York after Peter sent an audio version and a filming from a Charlton House show to Teatro Latea, which has links with Greenwich Theatre.

Peter said: “One of the great thing about the show so far has been that audiences seem really keen to talk about it in the bar afterwards and seem to appreciate Orwell’s approach to life and politics, especially in relation to modern spin, bullying, austerity and all the rest of it.

“We’re not sure how New York audiences will respond to it, positively I hope. We might add a line here or there to relate to America, maybe something Dylanesque to hark back to the protest movement of the Sixties.”