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Lionel Bart’s crowning achievement was Oliver!, a feat that no other work of his came close to rivalling.
Maggie May, inspired by the traditional Liverpool folk song about the eponymous prostitute, came after this masterpiece. It tapped into the nation’s obsession with Merseybeat when it opened in the West End in 1964.
It is, however, little wonder that it has received no professional revival since.
There are myriad problems with the musical that Matthew Iliffe’s hard-working but dubiously accented production, topped by some marvellously sassy small-space choreography from Sam Spencer-Lane, can’t begin to counter. The first is that Maggie (Kara Lily Hayworth, with a lovely yearning quality) is an under-sketched and secondary character in the sub-operatic story arc of the piece that bears her name.
The primary focus is labour unrest among the Liverpool dockers, led by Maggie’s formerly lost love, firebrand Patrick Casey (James Darch).
The union disputes provide much attitude but little dramatic profundity. They also highlight the odd capriciousness of this seemingly close-knit community of characters — formerly fiercely held opinions are overturned almost at whim.
The score, played by Henry Brennan on a lone piano, is rich and diverse, but it’s still hard not to catch oneself humming The Beatles’s deliciously characterful take on this song nonetheless.
Until April 20 (01223 357 851, finboroughtheatre.co.uk)
