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The writing of The Musical World of Boublil and Schönberg was completed in December 2006, immediately after the Chicago première of The Pirate Queen . However, 2007 was an eventful year in the world of Boublil and Schönberg. Whilst working on rehearsal changes for the Broadway opening of The Pirate Queen, they were also writing a new version of Martin Guerre and working too, on their new musical Marguerite. A busy time indeed. On this part of the website you will find details of the changes made to The Pirate Queen for Broadway and details of the new version of Martin Guerre, which played at the Watermill theatre in Newbury in the summer. Current details for Marguerite will be in the SHOWS and NEWS part of the website.
The Pirate Queen
Alain Boublil: We didn’t go to the opening night in Chicago thinking our work was finished. We knew that although the show was the best it could be at that point, there was a lot of work still to be done, as someone said, “You don’t write a musical, you rewrite it.”
John McColgan, Producer: You can’t tell what’s going to happen till the last member of the cast comes into the theatre – and the last member is the audience. And they tell you what’s working and what’s not working – and they did.
Claude-Michel Schönberg: We knew what we still needed to do on the show, to rework and to rewrite it, in terms of the story and the depth of the story, to put more focus on the relationship of the two women, to develop the characters more fully and to heighten the love story.
Alain Boublil: Before going back to work you need to have new ideas and new blood coming into the mix of what you are trying to do. Graciela Daniele, a long time associate of the director, Frank Galati, took over the musical staging and Richard Maltby, who worked on Miss Saigon with me, joined us for the substantial rewrite process.
Richard Maltby, Lyricist: The Chicago production was ravishing, with a sensational cast, a great story, wonderful music and a strong ending but at times the story was being told rather than us seeing the event itself. In Les Misérables and Miss Saigon it was action, action, action, with events moving the story forward, interspersed with moments when we stopped and heard from a character’s soul. So there was need for more dramatized scenes containing actions that happened before our eyes. It didn’t need to add time to the show, after all Les Misérables proved that showing events happening actually takes less time than describing them. In order for the scenes to become more active they needed greater complexity and more specific detail to avoid them seeming generalized. The Pirate Queen was more pageant-like and I didn’t feel it was as driven by passion as much as their other works. Passion translates itself into speed of story telling whereas in The Pirate Queen there were more set pieces and not enough stage action, which was a shame as Claude-Michel is a stunning theatrical dramatist. It was a hard show to do and we needed to concentrate on the story telling rather than grand spectacle, but I enjoyed working on this powerful story immensely.
Moya Doherty, Producer: This is a new piece of work that doesn’t have its roots in a successful film or a best selling book, so it’s an enormous challenge. This sort of big epic musical hasn’t been done for a long time on Broadway. I think one big element that didn’t reach its full potential in Chicago was the Irishness of the piece, essentially the Irish dancing.
Carol Leavy Joyce, Irish Dance Choreographer: The great thing about the end of every show in Chicago was listening to the audience reaction coming out of the theatre and absolutely everybody said they wanted more dancing. That was the challenge for coming into New York.
Graciela Daniele, Musical Staging: I love Irish dancing because of the extraordinary rhythms and I felt the show could take more of what it had, and build it in such a way that it would help clarify the story. I thought it was extremely important that we meet Grace O’Malley immediately and give her a little physical scene with her lover Tiernan, so that the audience gets to know them and roots for this woman as soon as possible.
Alain Boublil: Graciela Daniele made the Irish Dance sound like Flamenco at times – and that’s exactly right because it needed that kind of passion brought to it.
Summary of the major changes made to The Pirate Queen for the Broadway opening:
The name of the ship was changed from The Ceol Na Mara (Music of the Ocean) to The Pirate Queen.
Grania and Tiernan appear on stage at the very beginning, already in a relationship and kissing passionately.
There is a completely new song “Woman”, which Grania sings just before she boards the ship in disguise, and in which she forcefully rejects the role of a traditional woman that is being forced on her.
Her presence on the ship in disguise is more obvious as she is given frequent commands: “Boy! Secure the hold”, “Boy! Fill the water buckets” and so on.
Dubhdara’s relationship with Grania is tougher. Although he still adores her he is much stricter. After the storm he is furious that she has disobeyed him and feels she has made a fool of him. He agrees to let her stay, but only conditionally, until the end of the voyage, and he places her under Tiernan’s command.
Tiernan is overjoyed that Grania will be with him on board and wants to ask her father for permission to marry. But Grania wants to wait, knowing her position as a woman on board will be difficult enough.
After the first battle at sea when Grania proves her outstanding skill, bravery and leadership skills, Dubhdara promises to train her to be a captain.
The first battle is more stylized and choreographed than before and there is no model Galleon.
There is a new character, Chieftain O’Flaherty, Donal’s father. This gives the story an additional dimension and enables a scene where the O’Malley and O’Flaherty clans meet. There is considerable tension and edginess and the young men are on the brink of a fight when Chieftain O’Flaherty proposes that the only way for peace between the clans is for his son and Dubhdara’s daughter to marry and produce an heir. This is just one instance where the telling of what happened is replaced by an active scene.
After their anniversary Donal is told by his father that the English are attacking and he commands Grania to remain at home. She rails against her fate as a woman and sets off with the other women to fight. The song “The Woman That I Am” was cut.
The attack by the women on the English was changed from a fight to a brilliant seduction scene. Bingham is bested by Grania through her feminine wiles rather than by the sword.
The relationship between Elizabeth and Bingham was enhanced to bring in more humour and a degree of light flirting.
Donal’s character was further developed. He shows his arrogance when he first meets Grania, expecting her to kneel before him. When Dubhdara is dying he clearly expects to take over as chieftain and protests strongly when Grania is named as heir.
In the song “If I said I Loved You”, Tiernan and Grania now proclaim their love to each other instead of being on opposite sides of the stage each dwelling on their own thoughts of love.
When Elizabeth finally meets Grania, at first she is furious that Grania has left Ireland to visit her, and she is insulted by her presence, until Grania explains her mission.
The show now ends with Grania and Tiernan’s wedding and a reprise of “May God Bless The Bride And Groom.”
These are the specific changes made but there were also more general changes. Although there was only one completely new song there were many subtle and not so subtle lyric changes and a little more spoken dialogue. There was more dancing and a greater emphasis on scene instead of description. The story was tightened up and made clearer and the characters were further developed. There was more emphasis, too, on the way Grania railed against the prescribed role for women at that time and on the general women versus men theme, which even appeared at times in the choreography.
New York response to the The Pirate Queen:
The previews of The Pirate Queen at the Hilton Theatre began on March 6, 2007, with the official opening night on April 5. Each night there was an overwhelming response from the audience, who, on leaving the theatre had nothing but praise for the show. The critical response, however, was somewhat different.
All but a few critics were unanimous in their dislike and animosity towards the show, but often for different reasons, with such comments as: It’s a mulligan stew of a musical … an ornate but empty treasure chest. (Joe Dziemianowicz, Daily News.), Abandon ship before encountering ‘Pirate’. (Clive Barnes, New York Post) or: It’s not that it’s especially bad, but that despite its dense action and wealth of conflict … for all its inflamed passions, it never ignites. (David Rooney, Variety)
Other critics believed that this type of big through-sung musical is simply outdated: The Pirate Queen registers as a relic of a long-gone era. (Ben Brantley, The New York Times.) or: This soggy melodrama does little to stir the pulse, to say nothing of rehabilitating the rusty image of the pop opera. (Eric Grode, The New York Sun)
While some critics made it clear that they have never liked Boublil and Schönberg shows anyway: The Pirate Queen is the latest bloated opus from Alain Boublil and Claude-Michel Schönberg, the duo behind Les Misérables and Miss Saigon; and the best thing that can be said about the new show is that it makes their previous ones seem like models of grace. (Elysa Gardener, USA Today)
There were the occasional good reviews such as: For Les Mis fan devotees, The Pirate Queen will be no disappointment. The stirring score once again inspires the under classes to rise up … The Gaelic undertones of the score are a welcome touch without being overdone, giving a soft lilting feel to the ballads. (Andrea Carpenter, New York Theatre Guide), and: Bravura performance and thespian fireworks. It may be the most beautiful musical I have ever seen. (Richard Ouzounian, Toronto Star)
Meanwhile, Mike Murphy for The Irish Times, attempted to explain the generally negative response: The team who created Riverdance, John McColgan and Moya Doherty, have audiences rising to their feet nightly on Broadway in a wave of appreciation for a brand new show, The Pirate Queen. And it has been like that throughout the reviews at the Hilton Theatre. The official opening night last Thursday was no different. Those of us who have attended countless opening nights could attest to the genuine enthusiasm of the audience as they rose and cheered and clapped. The audience, mainly American, just loved the show.
But next morning the critics waded in. Having read the first batch of reviews I was struck as much by the vitriolic tone as I was by the overall negativity. Had we attended the same show in the same theatre on the same night? Were those who lauded what they had witnessed indiscriminating and naïve? Are there reasons for this critic/audience dichotomy?
When Riverdance arrived on Broadway a decade ago it was already an international phenomenon ... a magical music magnet for audiences of all ages and cultures. The manner of its emergence had, in effect, by-passed the critics. Audiences had voted with ticket purchases, the critics and their reviews were largely irrelevant. They carried little, if any influence. Prior to Riverdance, Alain Boublil and Claude-Michel Schönberg had likewise paraded onto Broadway with Les Misérables and Miss Saigon, both already major hits on London’s West End and both eagerly awaited by theatre-goers in America. Again the critics were marginalized.
Then last week we saw the combination of eminently successful composers (Boublil and Schönberg) and producers (McColgan and Doherty) arriving in town – this time, ostensibly, needing a positive critical reaction. Was the temptation too inviting for the “wielders of the lethal pen”?
It would be both foolish and churlish to suggest anything remotely resembling a conspiracy. Or would it? The peccadilloes of human nature? Hubris?
So is there an alternative view of The Pirate Queen to that delivered by the critics? Yes, there is. The show is thrilling, pacy, sensationally costumed and choreographed and, in the main, brilliantly performed by the principals, especially Stephanie J. Block (Grace O’Malley) and Linda Balgord (Queen Elizabeth). This show is a crowd pleaser – a huge, swaggering, fast-moving, visually splendid Broadway musical.
Is the day of such musicals over? Did it all end in the 1980s? I don’t think so. The Lion King is still attracting huge audiences and yet not many of us can hum any of its songs. Certainly the current trend on Broadway is towards the juke-box musical … However, it would be a rash judgement to declare that audience numbers are diminishing for the big spectacular Broadway musical.
Can The Pirate Queen defy the critics and survive to become a long-running success?”
The answer to that last question sadly seems to be “no”, at least not on Broadway. However, Alain Boublil and Claude-Michel Schönberg have proved in the past that their stubbornness and belief in their material can overcome any predictions of doom, as they’ve done with Martin Guerre. They kept working and re-writing in the shadows both to improve the show and to re-imagine it from a different perspective, very often going back to the roots of what gave birth to the original project and trying to understand and eliminate peripheral influences which might have blotted out or perverted it during its journey from page to stage. For The Pirate Queen long discussions are now taking place between Alain and Claude-Michel in the same direction pending future projects.
Looking back to the opening night of Les Misérables in London in 1985, the reviews were just as bad, if not worse, than these reviews for The Pirate Queen. But the audiences made up their own minds, ignored the critics and proved strong enough and committed enough to ensure that Les Misérables became the longest running musical in the world.
To TopMartin Guerre
The Watermill asked Craig to come up with a new musical for 2007 and he chose to do a reinvention of Martin Guerre. Craig had been Assistant Choreographer on the original London version of the show and so it is on this score that the new production was based. The script and lyrics were specially revised by Alain Boublil and Claude-Michel Schönberg, and included “Live With Somebody You Love”, taken from the touring production and turned into a soaring love duet in Act 1. When permission was granted for the show to go ahead, from Cameron Mackintosh, Alain and Claude-Michel, they thought it was for a production in eighteen months time. In reality there were just two months to complete the writing before rehearsals began!
So what could a small actor/musician production achieve in a two hundred-seater theatre that the larger, more lavish productions could not? Well, Alain and Claude-Michel had always wanted it to be a small, intimate show and, in a nutshell, it was simply a case of “less is more.” The simplicity of the production allowed the story to shine through and the emotion to be purely felt – without anything distracting or detracting from the central story. There’s no doubt that the Watermill must have been the perfect setting. It’s an extraordinarily beautiful theatre and, in the case of Martin Guerre, the wooden auditorium was an extension of the Artigat set, so that the audience felt that they were not just watching a production but were part of it. The pared down story had crystal clarity, the religious background and central love story merged seamlessly and effortlessly, the suspense was kept up right to the last minute, the chemistry between the characters was almost tangible and the ending was unmitigated heart-rending tragedy.
The musical instruments on stage were quickly accepted as the convention for the piece and cleverly served as an extension of each character’s psyche. The cast were extraordinarily talented, as they not only acted, danced and sung wonderfully but also played a variety of musical instruments, some sixteen in all. Different characters would play an instrument at different times, according to the action of the story at the time. So the cello, for example, was played by both Bertrande and Guillaume and some characters played more than one instrument.
There are three essential differences between this and other productions, aside from the obvious one of having actor/musicians. Firstly, Bertrande doesn’t appear to know that it is not Martin who returned and she is not openly complicit in the deception. We do realize at the very end, when, grieving and sobbing over Arnaud’s body, she whispers, heart-heartbreakingly, that she knew all the time. It is a moment of unmitigated tragedy and not softened by any reconciliation with Martin or the villagers, who all turn their backs on her. Secondly, the show is significantly shorter, running at about 1 hour 50 minutes, but strangely it doesn’t feel like anything’s missing. Thirdly, there are several chunks of dialogue which work very well adding clarity and impact as well as economy and are achieved so smoothly that you never notice the shifts between speaking and singing. Using this amount of dialogue is significantly different from any of their other shows or productions to date.
Some of the lesser changes are to do with characterization, mainly that Martin does not care for Bertrande at all, and the love triangle is Bertrande, Arnaud, Guillaume. Pierre is definitely greedier, and more obviously conniving and self-seeking. Benoit has a smaller role and no particular friendship with Bertrande, while Louison, his scarecrow is cleverly fashioned from the end of his guitar. The Catholic Church is presented much less harshly. The priest is played with utter conviction and real powers of rhetoric and he prevents Guillaume being killed by Benoit at the end. Finally, Arnaud and Martin looked credibly enough alike for us and the villagers to really believe that one has returned an older, hunkier version of the other. This new version is now considered as the blueprint for future productions of Martin Guerre.
CREATIVE TEAM |
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| Director & choreographer | Craig Revel Horwood |
| Musical Arrangements &Musical Supervision | Sarah Travis |
| Designer | Diego Pitarch |
| Lighting Designer | Richard G Jones |
| Sound Designer | Gary Dixon |
CAST |
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| Martin Guerre | Andrew Bevis |
| Catherine | Esther Biddle |
| Arnaud du Thil | Ben Goddard |
| Father Dominic/Judge | Michael Howcroft |
| Madame de Rols | Karen Mann |
| Bertrande de Rols | Kelly O’Leary |
| André | Kit Orton |
| Hortense | Rosie Timpson |
| Pierre Guerre | James Traherne |
| Guillaume | Jez Unwin |
| Ernestine | Susannah Van Den Berg |
| Benoit | Johnson Willis |
MUSICAL NUMBERS |
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| ACT ONE | ACT TWO |
| Overture | The Courtroom |
| Working on the Land | Martin Guerre (Reprise) |
| Where’s the Child? | Someone |
| Martin Guerre | The Imposters |
| Here comes the Morning | The Last Witness |
| Sleeping on Our Own | Here Comes The Morning |
| Duty | (Reprise) |
| When Will Someone Hear? | The Sentence |
| Louison: Someone as Beautiful As Her | I Will make You Proud |
| Thank God You’re Here | The Jail |
| What Do I Say? | The Reckoning |
| The Seasons | |
| Live With Somebody You Love | |
| Bethlehem | |
| The Dinner | |
| One By One | |
| Live With Somebody You Love (Reprise) | |
Interview with Craig Revel Horwood
Craig Revel Horwood: The Watermill’s production of Martin Guerre is unique in many ways. Primarily, Bertrande does not know that Arnaud is not Martin until the courtroom scene, which adds jeopardy and drama to the story. I strongly believed in that, because you feel more empathy for her. In fact, the show really comes from Bertrande’s point of view. Secondly, it’s an actor/musician show, which presented many difficult challenges. The first being the density of the score and the show being mostly sung through. Then, having to reduce and combine characters to enable a company of twelve multi-tasking actors to play the roles rather than the thirty it was originally written for. Finally, the show has been re-written especially for our production, which also makes it one of a kind and, I suppose, a world première!
I always felt the show was a chamber piece and believed that the treatment of it should be simple, like the story and peasant life. The Watermill is an amazing space to set the action as it has a 16th century French peasant barn feel, with all those lovely oak beams, which we carry through into our scenery, supporting the story of the play. Being both Director and Choreographer means that the show is coming from a single perspective and I had a very clear vision of it. Alain and Claude-Michel wrote a wonderful piece and I wanted to do them proud. I modernized the characters in some ways and because it’s simplified I think you get to know the characters a lot more – they’re not masked by huge production values.
In an actor/musician show it is important to make use of the instruments in as many ways as possible so they’re not a hindrance but actually help the play and point up the drama. For instance, Bertrande cradling the cello as the baby she wants, or Guillaume using a cello bow in place of a weapon. When you have instruments on stage it’s important not to have too many props or it becomes clumsy. For instance in the dinner party scene you couldn’t use a table and have them sitting round it with their instruments – it would have just looked weird, so instead I gathered them in a more informal way, as if at a party, and it looked very natural and peasant-like. The aim is for the audience to forget they are playing instruments, and it was important that they weren’t too shiny, after all you wouldn’t expect to see a shiny brass trumpet in a 16th century village! So we used old, tarnished instruments and leather bound them.
It was a seemingly impossible show to cast – the roles were gender specific, vocals specific, looks specific, age specific and instrument specific - and they had to be able to dance too! On top of that Martin and Arnaud had to look enough alike to be credible and they both had to be concert pianists as they were largely responsible for the musical direction, playing the keyboard and bringing the cast in by a nod of the head. The hardest thing was putting the jigsaw together – you couldn’t have Bertrande playing a trumpet because that would be out of character. The trumpet had to be played by Madame de Rols, a loud brash character. The other problem was who to cast first because the knock on effect is a nightmare and the last person to cast is always the hardest. But we lucked out and in the end I cast it in two weeks. In such a small production there are no understudies – the cast just have to go on regardless and if anyone had really been too ill to go on, the performance would have had to be cancelled.
You don’t need a lot of dialogue when the staging can say so much. The dancing is there too, as a means of communication, and I crossed Flamenco clapping with German slapping to create something unique and earthy for the village. I worked closely with the set designer Diego Pitarch to create an intimate village space that was small and gossipy but not “Disneyfied.” The battle scenes were achieved just by smoke and noise, but incredibly effective. I didn’t go in with any great plan. I always start from images – I have a painting in my mind and I just bring the painting to life. When the cast are playing instruments you just have to be that much more creative – you can’t have them working the land, for example, but it often leads to some unusual ideas. I always try to bring out the sex in the scenes, to heighten the subtext and to be realistic yet stylized. And I try to find the humour in it. So we brought back “Sleeping on Our Own” - it’s one of the highlights.
We didn’t need music for scene changes and that made it shorter too. With Sarah Travis’ orchestrations, the score sounds really full, even though it’s played by just 12 people. I've always loved the score and found the story compelling and epic. However, I believe paring it down to the bare basics is exactly what was needed to bring out the beautiful melody lines of the score and to focus much more on the individual love story set amidst one of the most terrible religious wars. I don’t see it as a tale from the past, but a timeless and modern story, which I felt privileged to work on again.
Martin Guerre Reviews
The Watermill production received mostly rave reviews. There were very few mixed reviews, from critics who clearly stated that they have never liked either story or score and felt that an excellent production only masked inherent flaws: Thanks to this production’s fantastically fast churn-rate of scenes, though, we can overlook the chaff and savour the wheat, such as it is. (Dominic Cavendish, The Daily Telegraph); This would be strictly one for the Les Mis fans were it not for a production and cast who once again demonstrate why the Watermill deserves its place high on the roster of British regional theatres. (Lyn Gardner, Guardian) and: Thankfully, the sterling ensemble playing and the understated musicianship go a long way towards camouflaging the flaws. (Clive Davis, The Times).
However, the vast majority of reviews heaped glowing praise on this revised production: C’EST MAGNIFIQUE AND YES, IT IS THE GUERRE. This stripping down process proves revelatory, as warm, luxurious melodies and stirring lyrics flow from the largely through-sung score … The battle has been won – the Guerre, too. The West End should demand to see the results. (Fiona Mountford, Evening Standard); It is hard not to use superlatives when the Watermill Theatre has once again exceeded all expectations … The show is full of passion, emotive contrasts and high energy, all of which are carried buoyantly along by the remarkable talents of the actor/musician cast. (Julie Watterston, The Stage); A totally captivating, transfixing piece of Musical Theatre which fulfilled all criteria for success … the cast turn in exhilarating performances and the entire company is to be congratulated for giving us a spell-binding evening of unqualified success. Surely it is worthy of a transfer. (Lynda Trapnell, Musical Stages); It’s hard to imagine a more effective staging or orchestration than Craig Revel Horwood’s fast moving punchy production and Sarah Travis’ stunning arrangements for just 12 astonishingly versatile performers. (Judi Herman, What’s On Stage); NOT JUST GOOD, IT’S GUERRE-ATE. While this is a love story, it contains much that is hilarious, particularly from a trio of rumbustious village women who switch between being gossips and viragos and who join the men in an exuberant, mesmerising, almost show-stopping clog dance which has Revel Horwood magic written all over it. Martin Guerre is not just good, it’s terrific! (Caroline Franklin, Newbury Weekly News); Craig Revel Horwood’s Watermill production succeeds prodigiously … The pocket-sized stage is thrust into the audience so that you can hear every word and see even the subtlest expression … the performance leaves the audience breathless. (Ian Wilcox, Theatre World Review) and: What a triumph for hope over experience! Martin Guerre at the Watermill is a stunning success … the ensemble cast bring out the passion and intensity of small village life, the set adds to the claustrophobia, and the closeness of the audience completes the picture … This is a memorable show. (Mike Rowbottom, Henley Standard).
Martin Guerre was nominated for a TMA (Theatrical Management Association) Award for Best Musical Production 2007.
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