Maggie May (musical)

Maggie May
Original theatre programme and poster
Music	Lionel Bart
Lyrics	Lionel Bart
Book	Alun Owen
Basis	sea shanty Maggie May
Productions	1964
Awards	Novello Award

Maggie May is a musical with a book by Alun Owen and music and lyrics by Lionel Bart. Based on "Maggie May", a traditional ballad about a Liverpool prostitute, it deals with trade union ethics and disputes among Irish-Catholic dockers in Liverpool, centring on the life of streetwalker Margaret Mary Duffy and her sweetheart, a freewheeling sailor.

The show includes bittersweet ballads, robust chorus numbers, and even some rock 'n' roll, making it one of the most musically diverse British scores of the 1960s. Steven Suskin, in reviewing a newly released CD, wrote: the show begins with a "rather weird folk-ballad", and has "a couple of gentle lullaby-like ballads...raucous production numbers... a tongue-twister, set to an almost violent waltz", along with a distinctive version of the title song "which mixes a sailor's chanty with — what, Dixieland?".

The West End production opened on September 22, 1964 at London's Adelphi Theatre, where it ran for 501 performances. The cast included Rachel Roberts, Kenneth Haigh, Andrew Keir, Barry Humphries, John Junkin, and Geoffrey Hughes.Georgia Brown later replaced Roberts in the title role.

The musical won the Novello Award for outstanding score of the year and the Critics' Poll as best new British musical.