Anglo: the Musical had to be hastily rewritten the day before it opened after the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions insisted a song be dropped, the show’s creator has said.
Paul Howard said he found out 24 hours before the first preview that the DPP had ordered that the song It’s Just Like Robbing a Bank, which was scheduled to finish the first act, be dropped.
Before its first run, Anglo: the Musical, which satirises the bank and the politicians which brought Ireland to its knees, was forced for legal reasons to drop the Seán FitzPatrick puppet from the show, and also a song called Putting on the Fitz.
However, the song It’s Just Like Robbing A Bank was a last-minute change.
A second run of Anglo: the Musical starts tonight in the Olympia Theatre for 10 performances.
Howard said he had stayed up all night making the late changes to the musical, and needed more time to work them through.
“We thought we had it all sorted out; 24 hours before the first show the DPP came to us and started making changes to the script,” he said.
“If you had the luxury of time you’d have the time to think about 'Is the scene doing what the scene should be doing?' - We didn’t have that time, we had to get the show on.”
This run of Anglo: the Musical will have several new cast members, most notably Caroline Morahan and Aoibhinn McGinnity, and a new director in David Horan.
Howard said the forced changes makes for a “much tighter show and much better one this time”.
A spokeswoman for the DPP declined to comment.
