Zorro cuts a dash on stage

A new musical about swashbuckling hero Zorro is to have its London premiere this summer.

The show is loosely based on a book about the romantic swordsman by South American author Isabel Allende. She has produced the project.

Matt Rawle, who played Che Guevara in the recent West End production of Evita, will take the lead with music by Grammy-Award winners the Gipsy Kings. Allende said: "Frankly, it's not very close to my book but it has the Spanish flavour and flamenco and duelling."

Zorro was created in 1919 by Johnston McCulley. He is the secret identity of Don Diego de la Vega, a wealthy caballero and master swordsman living in Spanish California in the early 1800s. He defends the peasants against injustice.

McCulley sold the rights to his character to Disney but when other super-heroes superseded the original caped crusader, it sold them on. Zorro Productions is now producing new Zorro stories. Allende, whose book, Zorro: A Novel, was commissioned by the company, said: "He's the avenger of justice... he's a mix of Robin Hood, Peter Pan and Che Guevara."