Sonny: The Musical

Sonny Bono was consulting on a "Sonny and Cher" stage musical at the time of his death. Variety reports the California congressman had flown to Los Angeles three weeks ago for a read-through of the musical, which was written by his longtime friends and TV producers Chris Bearde and Allan Blye and musical director Earl Brown. The writers said the show (which juxtaposes the gravity of the Vietnam era with Sonny and Cher's on-stage hi-jinx) was Bono's idea and that they were going to run it past Cher next. Bono had planned to confer with his team again after the skiing trip. His death on Monday -- the funeral is today -- has reportedly put the project on hold.