Martin Guerre

French songwriting duo Claude-Michel Schönberg and Alain Boublil gave superproducer Cameron Mackintosh two of the most successful musicals of all time in the shape of Les Miserables and Miss Saigon. So it’s no surprise he really tried to make Martine Guerre work: the 1996 musical loosely based on the life of the real Guerre – a 16th century French peasant who disappeared and was replaced some time later by an imposter who was put on trial – was majorly reworked throughout its 18-month West End run. Although that’s a decent enough stint, it pales next to the the duo’s other Mackintosh numbers and the producer handed the rights back to its makers. But by all accounts they have been tinkering with it further: Matthew Warchus has now snuck it in as the final show he’ll direct at the Old Vic before he leaves. It’s running for just five weeks, which is unusually short for a musical, but the secret ingredient here is the fact the theatre is still in an in the round set up – the more intimate staging might be just the ticket to find new life in the musical. Casting is TBA.