Byrne is best known to the pop world as songwriter and lead singer for the rock band Talking Heads. An inductee in the Rock 'n' Roll Hall of Fame, Byrne is an Oscar, Grammy and Golden Globe Award winner.

The Post's unsourced report said that Byrne has written "just a handful" of songs for the project, but added that fans should "look for a workshop within the year at the Public Theater," where Here Lies Love premiered in 2013 and returned for an extended run in 2014-15. Byrne collaborated with Fatboy Slim on Here Lies Love, but no collaborator for the untitled Joan of Arc project was listed in the Post report.

The Post reported that Byrne "may combine various periods and styles in his version, drawing a bit from Shaw, Brecht and Graham."

The story of St. Joan of Arc was adapted as a musical previously, the short-run Goodtime Charley told the martyr's story from the point of view of the dauphin of France, whom she put on the throne as Charles VII, at the cost of her own life.

Byrne has ventured into the world of theatre several times previously. In 1981 he collaborated with choreographer Twyla Tharp on the ballet "The Catherine Wheel." In 1984 he supplied the score for Robert Wilson's Opera The Knee Plays from The Civil Wars: A Tree Is Best Measured When It Is Down.