The Beautiful Game (sometimes performed as The Boys in the Photograph) is a musical by Andrew Lloyd Webber and Ben Elton about a group of teenagers growing up during The Troubles in Belfast, Northern Ireland in 1969.
The title of the musical (The Beautiful Game) is a commonly used reference to association football, the origins of which are disputed. The plot, which is centred on a local football (soccer) team, focuses on the attempt to overcome the violence that has engulfed their community. The Catholic team has one atheist player, Del (who comes from a Protestant family) and the coach is a priest. The musical chronicles some of the key players during the emerging political and religious violence. Some of the players become IRA volunteers, and another is knee-capped. The musical also chronicles the emotional change in the protagonist from political ambivalence to becoming an IRA volunteer.
The most successful song from the score was "Our Kind of Love", which had originally been performed by Kiri Te Kanawa as "The Heart Is Slow to Learn". It was cut from the re-worked version of the show in 2008, and used as the title song to Lloyd Webber's sequel to The Phantom of the Opera, Love Never Dies.
Production history In 1998, Lloyd Webber invited Elton to dinner to discuss the possibility of the latter working on a rewrite of the script for Starlight Express, updating the humour of the original. Elton declined but suggested the possibility of a new musical, with an entirely original storyline, having observed that most musicals were based upon existing ideas. The two writers settled upon the idea of setting a story amid The Troubles in Belfast.
The world premiere of The Beautiful Game opened on 26 September 2000 at the Cambridge Theatre in London and closed 1 September 2001, after a total run of slightly more than 11 months. The production featured Josie Walker, David Shannon, Ben Goddard, Hannah Waddingham, Alex Sharpe and Michael Shaeffer in leading roles. Dianne Pilkington and Shonagh Daly were ensemble members. It was directed by Robert Carsen with choreography by Australian choreographer Meryl Tankard."'The Beautiful Game' 2000 production notes with reviews" albemarle-london.com, retrieved 6 June 2010
The show was met with a mixed reception from the critics: while the production and Lloyd Webber's score were largely praised, Elton's book and lyrics came under fire for being crass, predictable and undistinguished although John Peter in his review in The Sunday Times wrote "Elton's book and lyrics burst with energy, indignation and intelligence. Brave and bitterly truthful...this show...need not fear comparison with West Side Story. Offhand, I cannot think of greater praise".Fick, David."Review Roundup: 'The Beautiful Game'", Musical Cyberspace, 1 October 2000 The show never made it to Broadway.
A rewrite by Lloyd-Webber and Elton, with the new title The Boys in the Photograph, received a workshop production by students at the Liverpool Institute for Performing Arts in April 2008, directed by Nick Phillips.The Boys In The Photograph Marketing Information , LIPA's Performance season websiteGans, Andrew. "Lloyd Webber's 'Boys in the Photograph' Will Have Workshop Run in U.K." playbill.com, 19 February 2008 Subsequently, in April 2009 a full-scale production was presented at the Manitoba Theatre Centre in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. This production transferred to the Royal Alexandra Theatre in Toronto, Ontario, Canada in September 2009.Jones, Kenneth. "Kicks: Boys in the Photograph, Elton & Lloyd Webber Musical, Begins Toronto Run" playbill.com, 22 September 2009 The rewrite gave a more uplifting ending than in the original production."Lloyd Webber rewriting musical", Toronto Star, 31 January 2008THEATRE REVIEW: The Boys in the Photograph, LIPALiverpool Daily Post, 17 April 2008
In February 2012, Northern Ireland youth group Fusion Theatre produced the show for the first time in its native Northern Ireland. Directed by Ian Milford with choreography by Rebecca Leonard, the cross-community youth chorus performed it for a week-long run. The show was attended by representatives of Lloyd Webber's Really Useful Group. The company took the show to compete at the Waterford Festival of Light Opera in Ireland in May 2012.
The original production's choreographer, Meryl Tankard, directed and choreographed the Australian premiere at the Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts in August 2016, performed by 3rd year students there.
A new production performed by the National Youth Music Theatre students had a limited run at the Other Palace in London on 15–18 August 2018.
In September 2019, Manilla Street Productions staged the professional Australian premiere in Melbourne at Chapel Off Chapel. Directed by Karen Jemison, it starred Stephanie Wall and Stephen Mahy.
Although being based in Northern Ireland, The Beautiful Game has only been performed there twice, by two amateur theatre companies, the first being Fusion Theatre Lisburn in 2012 and the second time being Belvoir Players in 2023.
Synopsis
The Beautiful Game Act One
Football is part of everyday life in 1960s and 1970s Northern Ireland, as the overture and opening number ("The Beautiful Game") demonstrate. It is especially important for Father O'Donnell's team, who are having their first practice on the first day of the season. The star player, John Kelly, seems to be a little more interested in one of the girls on the sidelines than he is in the priest, and as a punishment is forced to stay behind and take care of the equipment ("Clean the Kit"). Meanwhile, Thomas, a fervent Irish Catholic nationalist leads a group of thugs to force Del off the team. Mary, the girl John had been noticing during the practice, comes to the locker room to talk to him. Although they initially fight their attraction (Don't Like You), they soon decide to give it a try.
Time passes. John and Mary are quite serious with each other now. She asks him one evening to join her in a civil rights march but he is more interested in going drinking with his friends. Left alone, Mary is unable to understand why anyone would not love Ireland and want to make it better. Her sentiments are echoed - almost - by a girl with the rival Protestant team ("God's Own Country"). John changes his mind and returns to go to the march with Mary, because she is more important to him ("God's Own Country", "Protestant March").
The team makes it to the final, but their celebration is cut short when a group of Protestants trash the locker room. Christine and Del emerge to find the wreckage - they had been making love in hiding during the raid. Surveying the mess, they both wish all the fighting would stop so they could get on with their lives ("Let Us Love in Peace").
It comes down to the final. After the other team tied the goal on a penalty shot, John scores the winning goal ("The Final"). The boys celebrate at a local pub ("Off to the Party, The Craic"). Del comes to see Christine, but Thomas and his friends quickly remind him that he isn't welcome. Rather than causing any more unpleasantness, he leaves. Meanwhile, Ginger has finally got up the nerve to speak to Bernadette, who returns his affection ("Don't Like You Reprise"). They have a first, small kiss, and then she has to go, and Ginger helps Daniel home. After seeing him to his door, Ginger is about to head home himself when he's confronted by a gang of Protestant thugs. He attempts, unsuccessfully, to escape.
Christine and Mary are discussing the previous evening at Mary's house. Mary disapproves of the relationship with Del until Christine convinces her that love knows no boundaries ("Our Kind of Love"). They are interrupted by John who brings the horrible news - Ginger is dead. Thomas arrives and asks John to go with them to get revenge, but he refuses - more violence won't do any good. As they comfort each other and go to the funeral, they all long for an end to the division and for a chance to live a normal life ("Let Us Love in Peace Reprise").
Act Two
John and Mary are getting married, and there are some nerves on all sides ("The Happiest Day"). When the time comes to make their vows though, there are no doubts ("To Have and to Hold"). Finally, they are left alone in their hotel room for their first night together. Both are nervous, but together they work it out ("The First Time").
In the middle of the night, the phone rings. It's Thomas, in trouble. He asks for John's help. Mary doesn't want him to go, but John feels he owes it to his friend even though he doesn't agree with what he's doing. He finally finds Thomas and tells him it's the only time he'll ever do something like this. Thomas tries to explain to him why he has to do what he does ("I'd Rather Die on My Feet Than Live on My Knees"). John is finally going to get his big break at the football trials. On her way to watch, Mary says goodbye to Christine and Del, who are moving to New York to escape the situation there. Mary figures she and John will go to England, and they talk about leaving their home ("God's Own Country Reprise"). John makes a great impression and the coaches want him, but someone else wants him too - the police. Someone has tipped them off and he is taken to prison, before Mary even has a chance to tell him that she's pregnant ("The Selection").
John is put with the other IRA prisoners. He tries to stay apart from them, but they work away at him and eventually he begins to think like them. Even Mary has trouble getting through to him. ("Dead Zone"). She has her baby, a boy named Sean, and Daniel comes over to visit. While he's there, Thomas and two other IRA agents barge in and accuse Daniel of betraying John. They shoot him in the knee, crippling him. Mary is horrified and wonders if any good could possibly come out of all this violence ("If This is What We're Fighting For"). John is finally released, and his first stop is to see Thomas, because he has realized that it was Thomas who turned him over to the police. After confronting him, John kills him.
Mary enters. She tries to find the man within John that she fell in love with, but he is buried too deep. John is going to England to work for the IRA. He leaves his soccer jersey and a picture of the championship team for his son ("All the Love I Have"). As Father O'Donnell comes to collect Sean for the football practice, Mary hopes that the cycle of hate can be stopped with her son ("Finale").
The Boys in the Photograph Act One