Ray Davies Gets the Kinks Out to Score La Jolla Musical ’80 Days’

In 1964, Ray Davies quit studying art and theater at Hornsey Art College in London to join his brother Dave’s new band. “OK, go do your music,” Davies recalled being told by the school principal, “but I have a feeling you’ll come back to the theater.”

This week, after more than two decades as the lead singer and principal songwriter for the legendary British rock group the Kinks, Davies is proving the Hornsey administrator correct.

“I haven’t really left theater,” Davies said during a recent interview at the La Jolla Playhouse, where he was preparing the music and lyrics for “80 Days,” which opens Sunday at Mandell Weiss Theater and runs through Oct. 2.

Inspired by Jules Verne’s 19th-Century novel “Around the World in Eighty Days,” the Playhouse production tells the story of Phileas Fogg, an Englishman who races around the world by steamboat, elephant and locomotive in order to win a bet. It’s a fitting subject for a performer whose career has been an extended excursion.

The Kinks were one of many rock groups that spearheaded the British invasion of U.S. shores during the mid-’60s with such vibrant songs as “You Really Got Me” and the droll “Sunny Afternoon,” ranking just behind the Beatles, Rolling Stones and the Who in enduring influence and popularity.

The group then went on to be instrumental in the development of the concept album, and as its leader, Davies has earned the respect of many people outside the music business. Away from the group, he has also written a musical and a film.

Davies said that when La Jolla Playhouse director Des McAnuff first approached him in 1984 about writing the music for “80 Days,” he wasn’t interested.

“I didn’t like (the novel),” Davies said. “It was a bit of a travelogue.”

He said he changed his mind when he began to consider the challenge of bringing out the character of Jules Verne himself.

“He was like the father of science fiction. I think he was the Steven Spielberg of his era.”

Davies worked on the lyrics and score while British playwright Barrie Keeffe wrote the book for about six months. Then Keeffe had to leave it because of other commitments. Davies said the loss of his collaborator made him more determined to complete the project.

When McAnuff enlisted British playwright Snoo Wilson to replace Keeffe about a year ago, the three created a new script together.

Davies first tried his hand at writing music for theatrical production with the rock opera “Arthur” in 1969. The show was made for British TV but never aired.

Instead, “Arthur” became the basis for a critically acclaimed and commercially successful album with the same name.

Davies wrote another British TV musical called “Soap Opera” in the early ‘70s; the London stage musical “Chorus Girls” in 1981 with Keeffe; a 1985 art film called “Return to Waterloo,” and a segment that he performed in a 1986 Julian Temple feature film called “Absolute Beginners.”

Davies said the film was the most satisfying work of his career, even though the six months that it took him away from the Kinks caused a lot of conflict. He said the group has been more understanding about the nearly four years of off and on time he’s spent on “80 Days.”

“On this project they’ve been really supportive and they’ve been very helpful,” he said. “Because we could easily be on tour now somewhere. But I think they realize for me to keep functioning, I’ve got to have artistic freedom.”

Davies, facing a constant battle with insomnia and exhaustion, said he is spending a lot of time thinking about directing a film.

He is in various stages of writing three distinctly different kinds of features. One, “Medication Abuse in Middle America,” seems self-explanatory and custom-made for the American talk-show circuit. Another, “Man of Aran,” is the story of an ex-hitman who tries to flee his home in Southern Ireland. The third, “Playing to the Crowd,” is a story about the music business that Davies calls his “Wall Street.”

But the Kinks remain a high priority.

“I love getting up on stage,” he said. “I love performing. We’ve sort of half-made another album. Depending on how (“80 Days”) goes, and how the band feels about it, there might be some songs on the next album from the show.”

The album remains untitled, he said, but it might take its title from “80 Days.” He said that’s up to the Kinks.

“We still like to run the band democratically,” he said. “I won’t make a decision without the group.”