Andrew Lloyd Webber’s latest musical is a collaboration with Ben Elton to produce “The Beautiful Game” – a powerful and moving story of an under-21s football team in Belfast in 1969, and their subsequent involvement and membership of the IRA. “The Beautiful Game” is currently playing at the Cambridge Theatre in the West End. I saw it on the afternoon performance of 28th July 2001. The Story Did you ever see Blood Brothers (Willy Russell musical)? The story of The Beautiful Game is reminiscent – it deals with the friendship of a group of lads growing up in Belfast, and their love of the Beautiful Game – ...  Read the complete review

Even though The Beautiful Game (TBG) only started previews on the 5th of September, and we had tickets for the 11th, I'd already heard a lot about the show before I saw it. And I was not disappointed. TBG is set in Belfast in 1969, and follows the fortunes of a teenage football team and their girlfriends, as they search for ways to live and love in peace. The main thing I'd heard was that the show was not suitable for children, and it certainly is not. There's a lot of swearing, the jokes are adult, and there's quite a lot of violence. That said, it's an amazing show. It's not sung through - unlike many other Andrew Lloyd Webber shows - ...  Read the complete review

The Beautiful Game is ALW's first show for two years or so. A collaboration with the comedian Ben Elton, marketed as a musical about football (hence the title) and love but in reality these themes take a backseat to the politics of Ireland. First off, for anyone thinking of going to see the show, be warned that there is a lot of bad language. I am no prude, but I was shocked although given the nature of Ben Elton's previous form then I should have expected it!!!! As I said earlier, although the themes of football and love are important ones the main core of the work revolves around the religious divides in Ireland as seen in the 1970s. The ...  Read the complete review