West End Wednesday: Martin Guerre

Martin Guerre is a 1996 musical from the lead writers and production team of Les Miserables and Miss Saigon: Claude-Michel Schonberg, Alain Boublil and Cameron Mackintosh. Edward Hardy and Stephen Clark were also brought on board at various points to provide extra lyrics and rewrites. In similar fashion the musical follows a sung-through formula with little spoken dialogue.

The show is loosely based upon the historical figure Martin Guerre. Martin Guerre is forced into a marriage at a young age to Bertrande, who is clearly in love with someone else. Guerre makes the decision to leave the village, his wife and the oppressive clergy to take up arms in the current war. Along the way, he meets Arnaud whom he befriends, and when Guerre is presumed dead in battle, Arnaud return’s to Martin’s village to break the news. However, upon seeing Bertrande, Arnaud falls in love and assumes the guise of Martin Guerre, but how long will this last before the truth will out and what of Guerre himself if only presumed dead? Martin Guerre is a story of love, deceit and passion set in early modern France. 

After some persuasion by Boublil and Schonberg, Cameron Mackintosh signed on to produce the show, directed by Declan Donnellan, choreographed by Bob Avian, with designs by Nick Ormerod, lighting by David Hersey and sound by Andrew Bruce. After six years of development, Martin Guerre opened at the Prince Edward Theatre on 10 July 1996 featuring Matt Rawle as Martin Guerre, Iain Glen as Arnaud and Juliette Caton as Bertrande.  The show opened to mixed reviews with general concerns for the production from a creative perspective. The first few weeks saw the show undergo continuous changes to characters, scenes and songs. However, harsher reviews caused the show to be pretty much entirely reworked whilst it was still being performed in the evenings. The show then closed for a week in October 1996 for a more extensive rehaul and thankfully upon its reopening, the reviews for the show improved greatly. Further changes were also made upon the 1997 cast change, before closing in February 1998.

The UK tour launched in 1999 at the West Yorkshire Playhouse in a completely rewritten version. The rework was a co-production between WYP and Cameron Mackintosh. Songs were reordered and retitled, the libretto was rewritten, and the show was designed to be far more intimate than grand, proving to be much more of a success. 

The show underwent a US tour in 1999 starring Hugh Panaro and Erin Dilly, which again underwent some changes, and was slated to appear on Broadway but this never materialised. The show was remounted at the Watermill in Newbury directed by Craig Revel Horwood, again undergoing changes by Boublil and Schonberg whilst they juggled the opening of The Pirate Queen on Broadway. Plans of a West End revival have been rumoured for years, however, as of now Cameron Mackintosh hasn’t solidified any plans.

If you haven’t listened to Martin Guerre yet Besties, I suggest you do. It’s musical theatre drama at its best. 

Cast recording available on AppleMusic and Spotify. 

FACTS:

Music: Claude-Michel Schonberg
Lyrics: Alain Boublil, Edward Hardy and Stephen Clark
Book: Claude-Michel Schonberg and Alain Boublil. 

Theatre: Prince Edward Theatre
Run: 10 July 1996 – 28 February 1998 (675 performances)

OLIVIERS

(NOMINATED) Best Actor in a Musical – Iain Glen, Best Lighting Design – David Hersey

(WON) Best New Musical, Best Theatre Choreographer -Bob Avian