POP/ROCK - Nov. 25, 1987

Ray Davies, leader of Britain’s venerable rockers, the Kinks, is nearing completion of a score for “80 Days,” a musical adaptation of Jules Verne’s “Around the World in 80 Days.” According to producer David Singer, the music will carry Davies’ irreverent stamp but will include “ballads and traditional theatrical music elements” as well. The play will debut in May at the La Jolla Playhouse under the direction of Des McAnuff, the theater’s artistic director. The already completed script is based solely on the book, Singer emphasized, and “will have nothing to do with the film at all.” If it all comes together, he added, “80 Days” should be Broadway bound.