SMAP's Shingo Katori will be headed to New York later this year, as he has been given the starring role in the musical "Talk Like Singing," which will open off-Broadway in November. The musical, written and produced by the acclaimed director Koki Mitani, is said to be the first original Japanese production to have its opening performance in New York.

"Talk Like Singing" tells the story of a young man named Taro (Katori) with an unusual illness - there's a musical band inside his head. As a result, he has difficulty speaking normally, and instead expresses his thoughts and words through song. He winds up seeking help from a psycholinguistics doctor (Keiko Horiuchi) and a psychiatrist (Jay Kabira), who hatch up a plan to cure Taro by killing off the members of the band inside his head.

The music director is ex-Pizzicato Five member Yasuharu Konishi, who has produced hits such as Katori's "Shingo Mama no Oha Rock."

Although Katori has previously starred in musicals as part of SMAP, this will be his first team with a solo lead in one. The musical is said to be half in English and half in Japanese, but it will be presented without subtitles or translations.

13 performances are scheduled from November 12 to November 22 at NYU's Skirball Center, which has a capacity of 860 seats. The musical will be performed in Japan sometime next year, though no schedule has been finalized.