Remembering Passport to Pimlico: Why forgotten musical deserves a revival

LET’S GO TO THE LIDO

Let’s go to the Lido. I often get asked if I have a favourite musical. There are one or two to be honest, but right up there with the best of them is a short-lived but unforgettable production that unfolded on the streets of London’s Pimlico.

With a 64 strong company and 12-piece band, which included cast members, as well as a trip on a classic London Routemaster bus to ferry the audience from the opening scene across the Borough to the next, it was epic undertaking in every way… and all on a day that, fittingly, saw temperatures soar.

For two matinee performances only, on the weekend of 20 and 21 July, 2013, Pimlico residents along with those of us lucky enough to have secured tickets were invited to take a trip back in time as the local community festival, SouthWestFest, presented the Grass Roots’ production of their new al fresco musical based on the classic Ealing Comedy, Passport To Pimlico.

Proudly billed as ‘the UK’s first promenade musical’, the four hour production would prove that the unique community spirit of the people of Pimlico, so valiantly captured in the 1949 film, was still very much alive and well, not least because this production played out on streets and locations only too familiar to them.

Based on the screenplay by TEB Clarke and developed with special permission from Studio Canal, Passport To Pimlico The Musical boasted lyrics and libretto by Graham Whitlock and music by Alan Berlyn.

It told a story that resonates to this day and while a comedy, was also an incisive political comment on society and the strength of community in post-war London.

When an unexploded bomb detonates in Miramont Gardens, Pimlico, a long-buried cellar containing treasures and an un-revoked royal charter of Edward IV from 1477, ceding a house and its estates to Charles, the last Duke of Burgundy, the locals quickly declare themself Burgundian and independent of British rule.

With no legal jurisdiction, the British Government must negotiate with the new state’s representative committee – including the newly arrived Duke himself, Sébastien de Charolais, Spiller, the local policeman, Mr Wix, the bank manager and Arthur Pemberton, a local shopkeeper appointed as Burgundy’s first Prime Minister.

With an unprecedented heat wave replacing the more predictable British weather, as locals swelter, the British authorities connive to acquire Burgundy’s riches for its own treasury. So, when black marketeers and shoppers swarm Pimlico to take advantage of its lack of rationing and post-war bureaucratic restrictions, the authorities isolate the new ‘Burgundian’ territory, surrounding it with barbed wire.

As tempers flare, the Burgundians fight back; stopping a London Underground train as it passes through Burgundy, asking to see commuters passports, preventing those without the correct documents from travelling any further. In return the British authorities switched off all power, water and deliveries of food to the area and invited the residents ’emigrate’ to England. 

Defiantly they refuse, covertly connecting a hose to a nearby water main to fill their bomb crater… accidentally flooding their only grocers shop in the process. With their food supplies lost the Burgundians look forced to give up, until sympathetic Londoners start throwing food parcels over the barbed wire, a helicopter pumps milk through to them and pigs are parachuted into the area.

Under public pressure to resolve the situation, British diplomats negotiate; Bank manager Wix, now the Burgundian Chancellor of the Exchequer, suggests Burgundy loan their treasure to Britain, saving the day and allowing Burgundy to reunite with Britain… and the rationing that comes with it. Even the celebratory outdoor banquet to celebrate is interrupted as the heatwave breaks and is replaced by some very British weather… heavy rain and plunging temperatures.

Fittingly, the immersive nature of the Grass Roots’ production saw the performance begin at the Peabody Estate, a housing development built on a former Blitz bomb site. With Peabody Avenue standing in for Miramont Gardens, from there audience members were shepherded to locations around the neighbourhood, as the company endeavoured to stay one step ahead.

Giving an insight into the transition from screen to streets, Director Kate Golledge wrote in the programme: ‘The rehearsal and preparation process for this show has been unlike any I have ever known. Having assembled a dynamite creative team and cast of hugely talented and fearless actors alongside our local choir, dance company and student flashmob, we took to the streets of Pimlico causing laughter and chaos wherever we went. Rehearsals were slow progress. We set up, motorbikes drove past. No one could hear their cues. We started again. The music blew off the piano.

‘Someone’s hay fever started up. We had no access to power and had to use an accordion instead of a keyboard to accompany the songs. A FedEx van needed to drive through our stage. The heavens opened and we had to run for cover. Everyone overheated and we had to run for ice cream. We all soon learnt that presenting a musical in this way is not for the faint-hearted! But the common thread through the last three weeks has been an incredible generosity of spirit from our company and the local residents who have hung out of windows and come down into the street to sit with us and be a part of the creation of this incredible event.

‘Rehearsing in the afternoons in Peabody Avenue, we were regularly joined by a number of children and young people who gave up their time to sit on the floor next to me and tell me in no uncertain terms what was good and where the boring bits were – helping to shape this wonderful story about a community into a story which is truly FOR a community.’

Amongst those Pimlicans was a lone Leither. Me. As the Arts and Entertainment Editor of the Edinburgh Evening News at the time, I’d got wind of the fact that one of my all time favourite films was getting the musical treatment and there was no way I was going to miss seeing it brought to life in the very area where the story is set. Thankfully, with the help of Graham Whitlock I managed to secure a ticket. Below is my guest review for Musical Theatre Review.

PASSPORT TO PIMLICO THE MUSICAL | SOUTHWESTFEST 2013

★★★★★

‘With not a weak link, the ensemble cast achieve the impossible…’

There’s a moment in the classic Ealing comedy Passport to Pimlico when it looks as though the feisty Pimlico Burgundians might have to surrender their claim to interdependence. The reason? A freak heatwave, which leaves them powerless and thirsty when Home Office officials cut off their water supply.

Fitting then, that the first of only two performances of Grass Roots Productions’ brilliant promenade musical of the classic British movie should take place on the hottest day of the year. Indeed, the blistering heat added a final touch of realism to this innovative piece of interactive theatre.

For those unfamiliar with the story, it goes something like this: when an unexploded Second World War bomb is accidentally detonated by local school children, it reveals buried treasure and a diktat pronouncing Pimlico to be part of the ancient Duchy of Burgundy. In an effort to retain their treasure (and their new identity), the people of Pimlico declare interdependence with the UK, claiming their right to be Burgundian. It’s a move that leads to conflict with the Home Office, and leaves Pimlico’s residents cut off from the rest of the country.

Released in 1949, Passport to Pimlico starred Stanley Holloway, Hermoine Baddeley and Margaret Rutherford, and is arguably the best of the Ealing comedies. Adapting it for stage, let alone an outdoor musical, is certainly not for the faint-hearted, but Grass Roots rises to the challenge spectacularly.

With an ensemble cast that boasts not one weak link, and a production team that coordinates the afternoon with military precision, they achieve the impossible.

Starting in Pimlico’s Peabody Avenue, an award-winning housing development built, appropriately enough, on an old Blitz bomb site, cast and audience mingle. However, before long, the audience find themselves eavesdropping on the conversations of locals as the story begins to unfold. Shepherding them from location to location – front doors of houses to a playground doubling as the bomb crater – the cast sets the scene.

Already, this is immersive theatre at its best. Indeed, by the time audience members are asked to board a vintage Routemaster bound for the inquest into the treasure, they are no longer spectators but fully fledged Burgundians, ready to join in with the odd singalong and even a dance routine – wittily choreographed by Darragh O’Leary and expertly taught by Samuel Parker, whose infectious hyper-activity is a joy to behold.

Parker, as PC Ted Spiller, gives just one of a number of stand-out performances. Martin Johnston, as Arthur Pemberton, does the impossible by making the Holloway role his own, effortlessly engaging audience members en route without ever dropping his character.

Similarly, Katherine Moraz, as Edie Randell (the role originally played by Baddeley), is endearing and cheekily knowing, while her improvisational skills are simply flawless. However, it is tenor Peter Caulfield, as bank manager Mr Wix, who keeps the production moving along as the temperature soars, breathing real emotion into his solo numbers.

A testament to the beauty of Graham Whitlock’s wittily concise book must surely be that scenes from the film which, for logistical reasons, are missing, go unnoticed. Kate Golledge’s pacey direction also keeps the action flowing while allowing the ensemble the chance to explore their characters in fine detail.

Musical director Chris Whitehead brings Alan Berlyn’s lively score to life with the help of a 12-piece band – never underestimate the feat of moving such a beast from location to location.

The highlight of this year’s South West Fest, it is perhaps most telling, however, that despite the Mediterranean conditions and an epic running time of four hours, Passport to Pimlico held its audience, entranced throughout.

2013 CAST & COMPANY

Bringing Passport To Pimlico to life in 2013 were Peter Caulfied (Wix), Shirley (Kate Hume), Arthur (Martin Johnston), Greg Barnett (Sebastian/Area Manager), Verity Quad (Professor Hatton Jones), Joanna Lee Martin (Connie), Katherine Hall (Edie), Keiran Kuypers (Fred), Samuel Parker (PC Ted Spiller), Rosie Fletcher (Straker), Grant McIntyre (Gregg), David Moss (Inspector/Announcer), Adam Jaye Price (Hawker/ Dance Captain), Laura Caso (Hawker/Dance Captain), Anna Britton (Dance Captain), Beckie Davies (Dance Captain), Felicity Kirwin (Dance Captain), Christopher Lanyard-Tough (Jimmy), James Townsend (Charlie), Cliff Llewellyn (Coroner), Sara Wheeler (Customs & Excise Officer) and Salem Khazali (Policeman).

The Burgundians were played by Clemmie Aagaard, Jennifer Peters, Mary Ames, Clare Clancy, Lyabor Fernandes, Peter Johnston, Owen Swales, Hanna Gjurra, Matthew Peters, Elinor Blair, John Doyle, Chris Hickman, John Reid, Anne-Marie Sapalska, Abigail Lanyard-Tough, Sarah Ryan, Malcolm Bloom, Shirley Farmer, Elena Mateo, Pat Shroff and Sam Yolashum Broom.

The Hawkers by Laura Abbott, Sonia Brown, Lydia Davidson, Christina De Piano, Sophie Dervan, Sophie O’Shea, Katie English, Nikki Fordham, Ross Harbron, Mary Hodgkinson, Ross McNeill, Abbie Marsh, Kanako Nakano, Nina Nyberg, Lilly Roberts, Jo Shah, Richard Watkins, Pamela Wernham Pheobe, Rosie White, Sarah Woods and Amanda Jane Woods.

Finally, under the baton of Musical Director Chris Whitehead, the band comprised of Ben Hayes (Double Bass), Verity Quade (tenor saxophone and percussion), Rosie Fletcher (violin and alto saxophone), Kieran Kuypers (soprano saxophone, alto saxophone and percussion), Greg Barnett (cello and percussion), Samuel Parker (accordion and percussion), Kate Hume (clarinet), Peter Caulfield (piano and accordion), Katherine Moraz (alto saxophone), Anna Britton (oboe), Grant McIntyre and David Moss (percussion).

PASSPORT TO PIMLICO – REINVENTED FOR THE STAGE

The SouthWestFest production wasn’t the end of the story, however. Almost three years later, I received an invitation to once again join the good people in ‘their fight to defend their homes’.

Which is how I found myself back in London, checking into the Churchill Hall, Churchill Gardens, Pimlico, at 1pm on Wednesday 25 May 2016 for the first of two special workshop presentations (the second was the following day) of Passport To Pimlico ‘reinvented for the stage’.

Emphasising the timeless nature of the piece, the invitation even carried a tagline reflecting the politics of the time: ‘PIMEXIT – Should Pimlico leave Britain? Find out…’

The cast may have changed, it was now led by Stephen Webb as Fred, but the energy and enthusiasm for the project was as evident as ever, and while it was strange watching it in a largely anonymous church hall with only the simplest of staging, the magic of Whitlock’s lyrics and libretto combined and Berlyn’s music remained.

On that occasion, the cast were Simon Slater (Arthur Pemberton), Suzie Chard (Edie Randall/Council Member), Katie Birtill (Shirley Pemberton), Paul Hawkyard (PC Jack Spiller/Council Member), Amy Oxley (Molly/Hawker), Stephen Webb (Fred/Hawker), Richard Dempsey (Wix), Ashley Day (Sebastian/Jimmy/Hawker), Sarah Ingram (Coroner/Jane/Hawker), Stuart Matthew Price (Manager/Gregg/Hawker/Policeman), Nigel Richards (Straker/Hawker/Policeman) and Rosemary Ashe (Professor Hattan-Jones/Council Member), all directed by Stephen Dexter, with Mark Warman as Musical Supervisor.

That stage version has yet to see the light of day but I hope that, even after all this time, it does. Passport To Pimlico The Musical held so much potential; rarely does a production on the scale and with the impact of the original SouthWestFest presentation come along. 

A true ‘Must See’ piece of landmark theatre, its vibrant, uplifting, heart-felt nature it lives on in my memory as a musical that deserves to be enjoyed by a much larger audience. Evocative of the past while speaking to the present, let’s hope that some time in the future a staged production is finally realised and we again hear Arthur Pemberton leading the company in a chorus of the wonderfully catchy opening number, ‘Let’s go to the lido… Pimlico Lido’. 

GALLERY | PASSPORT TO PIMLICO THE MUSICAL STORYBOARD

Peabody Avenue | The Treasure | Routemaster to Court | Burgundians Celebrate | Passport Control | The Reckoning Images | Liam Rudden Archive