Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10

Cast: Christina Tedders, Michael Fletcher, Cheryl Ferguson, Tom Connor, Paislie Reid, Katia Sartini, Sam Haywood, Oliver Hamilton, David Heywood, Barbara Hockaday, Matt Ganley.

Liverpool is more than just a city, a coming together of small villages under the umbrella of a larger conurbation, it is the collection of stories that have weaved its way through the psyche of anyone who’s feet have touched the ground in which by the running waters of the Mersey lay, that have been touched by the legends, the myths and the incredible personalities that have made the city of Liverpool the place in which Westminster fears and which secretly it wishes it could be.

It is a place in which the waters greet the unsuspecting and the streets are paved with the ideals of many who believe the once former town will offer them a future, unlike the once proverb of London, there is no gold on the streets in which to scoop up, however, there is truth, humour, a banding together in the name of common decency in which arguably no other city in England manages to do; after all nobody puts on a show as much as Liverpool.

For the Royal Court Theatre, stories and the people who make them, is paramount, and when it comes to the true stars of Liverpool, the ones who have inspired folk tales and songs, of those whose lives, no matter if steeped in history and myth, have become engrained in the minds of its people, then heroines such as Maggie May, are always going to be enjoyed by the discerning, but always ready to laugh and sing in unison, Liverpool crowd.

Ten years in the making, Bob Eaton’s Maggie May: The Musical is yet another jigsaw piece of artistic vision which slots into the fabric of the city and the Royal Court Theatre, a homage to the people and the way they have stood up to the adversity placed upon them over the last 150 years. It is an unfolding scene of one woman’s struggle to find a way to survive in a place that was far from where she imagined herself to be, of the people she meets and the extraordinary times she lived in and was part of.

Filled with beautifully arranged music and songs, the cast, including the marvellous Christina Tedders in the role of Maggie, Michael Fletcher, who with sincere humility of beauty captures the male voice of love with demanding pleasure, Tom Connor, who continues to give so much enjoyment to the Liverpool stage and Paislie Reed, whose portrayal of one of the forgotten social class is riveting and passionate, make this particular show a treasure, a forthright and abiding memory of expression and truth.

Maggie May: The Musical rightly joins the ranks of great productions to have come to the Royal Court Theatre since the Capital of Culture in 2008, a distinctive voice which needs to be heard.

Ian D. Hall