Kara Lily Hayworth and Natalie Williams in Maggie May at Finborough Theatre, London. Picture: Ali Wright
Maggie May continues at the Finborough Theatre, London until 20 April 2019.
Star rating: four stars ★ ★ ★ ★ ✩
Not to be confused with Rod Stewart’s hit which reached No. 1 in the UK, American, Australian and Canadian charts in 1971, this Maggie May is a raw drama about life in the Liverpool Docks in the 1960s last seen with a professional cast in the West End in 1964.
It ran for 501 performances at the Adelphi with Rachel Roberts in the title role but Lionel Bart’s music and lyrics did not enjoy the fame accorded to his earlier hit Oliver!
It is a bold call by the boutique 50-seater Finborough to revive this neglected musical with a script by one of Liverpool’s favourite sons Alun Owen, who the same year wrote the more lucrative screenplay for the Beatles film A Hard Day’s Night.
Owen loved his adopted city and called this show “an attempt to put a town on the stage, to see it working and playing, loving and going on strike”.
The Maggie May of Scouser folklore was a thief but Owen and Bart have softened this Maggie to make her a tart with a heart, much loved by the sailors for her generosity. It is her love for handsome docker Patrick Casey that is at the heart of this tragic tale.
Well sung by the sweet-voiced Kara Lily Hayworth, she almost looks too wholesome to be a streetwalker but does provide a sharp contrast to Natalie Williams as her tough brassy pal Maureen.
James Darch is strong as Casey, son of a famous trade union leader killed during a strike who returns to the docks after trying life as a seaman and finds one shipment containing guns illegally being sent to South Africa. He and his fellow workers threaten strike action and Maggie has a row with the man she hopes will take her away from her sordid life.
She starts a relationship with shady deal-maker Willie Morgan to get back at him but love wins the day and their duet ‘It’s Yourself’ tugs the heartstrings before the shock ending.
The unseen star of the show is undoubtedly the choreographer, Sam Spencer-Lane, who somehow gets a cast of 13 to give their all in some wildly energetic and complex dance routines without knocking one another over on the tiny Finborough workspace.
Director Matthew Iliffe runs a tight ship on a minimalist stage and this well-drilled cast has no weaknesses.
The oldest member, David Keller, inhabits the part of the grizzled old dock worker who has seen it all before in a fine characterisation and Aaron Kavanagh, who doubles as Balladeer and Milkman, not only sings well but gives an eye-catching acting display.
Mark Pearce’s oily Willie Morgan is pitched just right, while Cathy McManamon, Chloe Carrington, Euan Bennet, Barnaby Taylor, Leon Kay, Michael Nelson and Joshua Barton all do their bit in a fine team effort.
Lone musician, pianist Henry Brennan, is tasked with accompanying a rare old mix of lullabies, bittersweet ballads, folk, rock‘n’roll and robust production numbers and comes through with flying colours on an absorbing evening.
All that’s missing is a hit song or one to hum on the way home.
Jeremy Chapman
SHARE THIS POST:
Comments are closed.