The Beautiful Game (musical)
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| The Beautiful Game | |
| Music | Andrew Lloyd Webber |
|---|---|
| Lyrics | Ben Elton |
| Book | Andrew Lloyd Webber Ben Elton |
| Productions | 2000 West End |
- "The Beautiful Game" is also a term used to describe the sport of football.
The Beautiful Game is a musical by Andrew Lloyd Webber and Ben Elton about a group of teenagers growing up amid religious intolerance in Belfast, Northern Ireland in 1969.
The title of the musical is taken from Pelé's autobiography My Life and the Beautiful Game. The musical opened September 26, 2000 at the Cambridge Theatre in London and closed September 1, 2001, after a total run of slightly more than 11 months. The show never made a transfer to Broadway.
The plot, which is centered on a local football (soccer) team, focuses on the attempt to overcome religious intolerance and violence that has engulfed their community. The team is made up of Catholic and Protestant youths and the coach is a priest. The musical chronicles the ups and downs of the team players as the emerging political and religious violence overwhelms them. Some of the players become members of the IRA, one gets kneecapped.
The musical also chronicles the emotional change in the lead protagonist from political ambivalence to becoming an IRA terrorist. Highlights of the play include the dual singing of "God's Own Country" by two females, one Catholic, one Protestant; the rain-drenched funeral; the football match; the transformation of the football net into a prison.
The most successful song from the score was "Our Kind of Love", which was then cut from the re-worked version in 2008.
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[edit] Other performances
- Shonagh Daly performed Let Us Love In Peace as the closing song at the memorial service for families of the September 11 attacks in October 2001[1]
- A selection of songs from the musical were performed for President George W. Bush and Tony Blair at a reception in Washington on 18 January 2001[2]
[edit] The Boys in the Photograph
A rewrite by Lloyd-Webber and Elton, and a retitle to The Boys in the Photograph, will lead to a production opening in April 2009 at the Manitoba Theatre Centre in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada, which will then move to Canon Theatre in Toronto that June. The rewrite will give a more uplifting ending than the original production. [3] [4]
Prior to this, the rewrite of The Boys in the Photograph received a workshop production by students at the Liverpool Institute for Performing Arts in April 2008.[5] It opened with the following cast Matthew Grace who was particularly memorable as John[6] , Jeanna De Waal as Mary, Adam Diggle as Del, Derek Barr as Thomas, Cecilia Ardiles as Christine, Richard Loosemore as Ginger, Rob Gilbert as Daniel and Bryn Holding as Father O'Donnel. It was directed by Nick Phillips whose staging was "superb".[7]
Ben Elton, speaking about the production and its forthcoming production in Canada, said that 'He hoped to get a cast half as good as the one LIPA" [8]
[edit] Critical acclaim
- Best Musical Award in the Critics' Circle Theatre Awards 2000
[edit] Songs
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(*= Songs added for The Boys in the Photograph)
(**= Songs removed from The Beautiful Game for The Boys in the Photograph)
[edit] References
- ^ Music and prayer at Ground Zero from BBC News, Monday 29 October 2001
- ^ The Beautiful Game facts and figures from ReallyUseful.com, Andrew Lloyd Webber's production company
- ^ Lloyd Webber rewriting musical from the Toronto Star, Jan 31, 2008
- ^ THEATRE REVIEW: The Boys in the Photograph, LIPA from the Liverpool Daily Post, April 17, 2008
- ^ The Boys In The Photograph Marketing Information [1], LIPA's Performance season website
- ^ THEATRE REVIEW: The Boys in the Photograph, LIPA from the Liverpool Daily Post, April 17, 2008
- ^ The Boys In The Photograph, Lipa from the Liverpool Echo, April 17, 2008
- ^ LIPA to premier new musical by Ben Elton and Andrew Lloyd Webber from the Liverpool Daily Post, April 17, 2008
