West End Wednesday: MARGUERITE
Marguerite is a 2008 lesser-known musical from the writers of Les Miserables. The musical is based upon the novel La Dame aux Camelias and focuses on a middle-aged ex-singer who has an affair with a young musician whilst she is the mistress of a Nazi officer. The musical takes place in 1940 German-occupied Paris.
The production was mounted at Theatre Royal Haymarket in May 2008 for a limited engagement, running til November. The music was scored by Michael Legrand, Alain Boublil and Herbert Kretzmer penned the lyrics. The book itself was a three-way effort between Boublil, Claude-Michel Schonberg and Jonathan Kent. The opening night cast included Ruthie Henshall as Marguerite, Julian Ovenden as Armand and Alexander Hanson as Otto. The musical received mixed reviews and unfortunately failed to gain the successful traction their previous works had. The musical instead closed on 13 September 2008, 2 months prior to its original closing night.
Two years later, Marguerite premiered in the Czech Republic. The production was entirely re-staged, and Alain Boublil enlisted the help of his wife Marie Zamora to help rewrite the book and the lyrics. Legrand also took this opportunity to write more songs and had the score re-orchestrated by William David Brohn. This production was directed by Gabriela Haukvicova. Hana Fialova, who played Marguerite, was nominated for Best Female Stage Performance in the Thalie Awards that year.
Two years later, the Tabard Theatre housed the first London revival of Marguerite. This was a hybrid production between the original and Czech versions. Again, Boublil revised the plot, this time totally rewriting the book and being joined by Guy Unsworth, the shows production director. The score was again re-orchestrated, this time to accommodate for the reduction in band size. The music was rearranged by Jude Obermuller. Additional lyrics for this production were penned by Callum McIntyre.
Besties, Marguerite is one of those little musical theatre gems that really needs a come-back! Give it a listen!
Cast recording available on streaming services.
FACTS:
Music: Michael Legrand
Lyrics: Alain Boublil, Herbert Kretzmer
Book: Alain Boublil, Claude-Michel Schonberg, Jonathan Kent
Theatre: The Theatre Royal Haymarket
Run: 7 May 2008 – 13 September 2008 (Around 130 performances)
OLIVIERS:
(NOMINATED) Best Actress in a Musical – Ruthie Henshall, Best Performance in a Supporting Role in a Musical – Alexander Hanson, Best Set Design – Paul Brown.
