The Beautiful Game opens

Composed by Andrew Lloyd Webber and with book and lyrics by Ben Elton, The Beautiful Game, set in Ireland during the troubles of the early 1970s, follows the fortunes of a local soccer team as the teenage players’ fall in and out of love – and in and out of trouble.

The show opened at the Cambridge Theatre, London on 26th September 2000 and ran until 1st September 2001. During its run the show was awarded the prestigious Best Musical Award in the Critics’ Circle Theatre Awards 2000.

The Beautiful Game was later revisited by the authors and evolved into The Boys in the Photograph. Originally workshopped by LIPA (Liverpool Institute for Performing Arts) in Spring 2008, The Boys in the Photograph had its first professional outing in Canada in 2009.