Beloved children’s dramatist David Wood has brought a new musical to the Apollo Theatre, starring legendary stage and screen actor Michael Crawford. With an entirely original score by Whistle Down the Wind’s Richard Taylor, The Go-Between arrived in London after successful runs across the UK, earning the Theatre Awards UK award for Best Musical Production.
Based on L. P. Hartley’s 1953 novel, The Go-Between follows the elderly Leo Colston as he accidentally unlocks forgotten memories, which quickly unravel before his very eyes. Remembering the stiflingly hot summers of 1990, Leo is transported back to his childhood holidays in Norfolk with his close school friend, Marcus, and their families. Young Leo soon becomes wrapped up as the go-between in an affair between the upper-class Marion and fumbling farmer Ted. Trapped in an adult world full of lies, secrecy and forbidden passion, the elderly Leo realises that his life was changed forever.
Olivier and Tony Award-winning actor Michael Crawford stars as Leo Colston, returning to the West End for the first time since his appearance as the Wizard in Andrew Lloyd Webber’s The Wizard of Oz. Crawford is best-known for creating the titular roles in Barnum and The Phantom of the Opera, for which he collectively received the Olivier Award for Best Actor in a Musical as well as a Tony, Drama Desk and Critics Circle Award. His credits also extend to the screen, as he became a household name when he starred as the bumbling Frank Spencer in popular sitcom Some Mother’s So ‘Ave ‘Em.
Previously a successful 1970 film starring Michael Redgrave, Julie Christie and Alan Bates, The Go-Between is yet another musical to be adapted from a novel and a film. With a book by David Wood, who brought family favourites such as The Tiger Who Came to Tea and Goodnight Mister Tom to the West End, The Go-Between is a fresh, innovative and heart-warming production that promises to become a British classic.
Very good play, but with Michael Crawford in it, it had to be good.