The Buccaneer

Our Celebrating British Music Theatre series continues with a semi-staged score-in-hand production of the first production in more than fifty years of The Buccaneer, the second musical by Sandy Wilson, composer of The Boy Friend.

Set around the publishing house of a children’s comic newspaper, ‘The Buccaneer’, the show is a light hearted look at the struggle of a failing English schoolboy comic as it comes under pressure from an American buyer. As lines are drawn, it comes down to the courage of an adventurous schoolboy to save the day.

Originally presented at the Watergate, a tiny theatre off the Strand in 1953, The Buccaneer was staged at the Lyric, Hammersmith in 1955, following the massive success of The Boy Friend, with a cast including Kenneth Williams and Thelma Ruby. Running to full houses, the production toured before finally transferring to the Apollo Theatre in the West End.

The show was inspired by a real-life event – the invasion from America of so-called “Horror Comics” which in the 1950’s threatened to corrupt innocent British children, as well as threatening the survival of traditional boys’ magazines such as The Buccaneer.

Cast in order of appearance
The MP – John Paton
Mrs Barraclough – April Nicholson
Mabel Grey – Jennifer Hepburn
Mr Donkin – John Paton
Walter Maximus – Sam Mancuso
Peter Curtis – John McManus
Waitress – Maggie Blake
Waitress – Jennifer Reischel
Montgomery Winterton – Tim Edwards
Mrs Winterton – Helen Watson
Marilyn Maximus – Samantha Giffard
Kids – Robbie Gardner
Jennifer Reischel
Ian Tutin