The Stage

Martin Guerre set for West End comeback

Published Thursday 14 October 2010 at 17:26 by Matthew Hemley

Martin Guerre, the musical by Claude-Michel Schonberg and Alain Boublil, is being primed for a West End revival more than a decade after it was last staged in London.

Boublil, who penned the book and lyrics for the show, revealed to The Stage that there were plans to bring Martin Guerre to London next summer.

The writer, who also created Les Miserables and Miss Saigon with Schonberg, added: “I hope it happens because it is one of my favourites - it’s certainly one of my favourite scores.”

Martin Guerre first opened in London in 1996, and closed in 1998. An extensively rewritten version of the musical then opened at the West Yorkshire Playhouse, and in 2007 a revival was staged at the Watermill Theatre in Newbury under the direction of Craig Revel Horwood.

Speaking to The Stage, producer Cameron Mackintosh, who holds the rights to the musical, admitted plans to revive the show were in place and revealed that Horwood’s production had provided inspiration for how a new version might look.

“There is a lot of interest in Martin Guerre. It needs a little work on it, again. The last version was a very successful one at the Watermill and that production was so good it gave us a few ideas. It’s interesting, at least half a dozen people are after it. I would love to see it happen and maybe this is the right time,” he said.

Meanwhile, Boublil said he was rewriting another of his collaborations with Schonberg, called Marguerite, which opened at the Theatre Royal Haymarket in 2008.

He admitted he had never felt the show was ready to be staged and said: “I am completely rewriting it at this moment because I never thought it was finished. I think we took it to the stage too early.”