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| The Likes of Us | |
|---|---|
| Name | The Likes of Us |
| Caption | Original manuscript and score |
| Music | Andrew Lloyd Webber |
| Lyrics | Tim Rice |
| Book | Tim Rice |
| Premiere | 1965 (unperformed); concert premiere 2005 |
| Location | London, Harold Pinter Theatre |
| Language | English |
| Genre | Musical theatre |
The Likes of Us is an early musical collaboration by Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice composed in the mid-1960s and notable for its later rediscovery and staging. Set in nineteenth-century England and inspired by the life of the social reformer Thomas John Barnardo, the work anticipates the later careers of its creators in West End and Broadway musical theatre. Though shelved for decades, the score and book later resurfaced, generating renewed interest among historians of musical theatre, scholars of Victorian era philanthropy, and archivists of British theatre.
The piece originated when a young Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice collaborated after meeting in London's Royal Academy of Music circles and participating in student theatre and West End fringe productions. Economically influenced by postwar Britain and the cultural shifts of the 1960s, Rice adapted material from biographies of Thomas John Barnardo and drew on the philanthropic traditions exemplified by Barnardo's and contemporaries. Early promoters included figures associated with Royal Court Theatre and Arts Council of Great Britain initiatives; however, the production suffered from limited financial backing and competition with established composers like Noël Coward and Cole Porter. The pair's subsequent success with works such as Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat and Jesus Christ Superstar shifted attention away from this first collaboration until archival interest revived the manuscript.
The narrative follows a fictionalized account of a nineteenth-century reformer modeled on Thomas Barnardo as he establishes a network of children's homes in East End of London and confronts obstacles posed by philanthropic rivals, skeptical magistrates, and unsympathetic press owners. Major set pieces depict scenes at Whitechapel, a seaside rescue mission in Brighton, and courtroom exchanges evoking the Poor Law Amendment Act milieu. Supporting episodes involve rescued youths interacting with workhouse overseers, a subplot concerning an illegitimate child linked to a music hall performer, and a climactic charity gala hosted at a Town Hall where public opinion is swayed. The plot interweaves melodrama with comic relief drawn from caricatures of Victorian institutions and a romantic thread involving a sympathetic aristocrat.
Principal roles include the reformer protagonist; an earnest companion inspired by contemporaries of Barnardo; a philanthropic antagonist resembling late-Victorian critics; and several rescued children each bearing names common to nineteenth-century London sources. Named figures and archetypes referenced throughout the score and libretto echo personalities from Victorian literature and public life, invoking allusions to writers such as Charles Dickens and social commentators associated with Benthamism-era debates. Featured adult roles dramatize tensions among charity committees, magistrates in Old Bailey-style hearings, and editors of newspapers akin to The Times and The Guardian. Ensemble numbers give voice to populations of dockworkers, market sellers, and parishioners drawn from St Pancras and Shoreditch milieus.
After completion in 1965, the musical was not produced commercially; the authors repurposed material for subsequent projects. Manuscripts and orchestrations remained in private archives until an archival performance and recording effort in the early 2000s led by theatre historians and producers associated with The Really Useful Group and The South Bank Centre. Staged revivals and concert presentations took place in venues linked to London theatre heritage projects and were announced through institutions like Imperial War Museum-affiliated programmes and university drama departments with collections in British Library. The first public performance brought together singers and craftsmen who had worked on later Lloyd Webber–Rice shows, prompting interest from collectors and repositories such as the Victoria and Albert Museum's theatre collection. Critical editions of the score and libretto have appeared in commemorative volumes and exhibition catalogues.
Contemporary responses to the recovered work ranged from fascination with its historical value to critiques of its uneven dramatic structure. Reviewers and scholars compared the piece to early drafts of landmark shows by Lloyd Webber and Rice, noting embryonic motifs that reappear in Evita and Cats-era sensibilities. Theatre historians placed the musical within narratives of postwar British musical theatre development, citing parallels with the careers of composers like Lionel Bart and librettists linked to Royal Shakespeare Company-adjacent projects. The work's legacy includes sparking archival interest in unpublished works, contributing to exhibitions on 20th-century British music and fueling biographies of its creators published by presses such as Faber and Faber and Oxford University Press.
Analyses emphasize nineteenth-century social reform, philanthropic ideology, and media influence in shaping public perceptions—drawing analytic lines to writings by Charles Dickens, debates around Poor Law, and reform movements of figures such as Octavia Hill. Musically, scholars identify early melodic and harmonic tendencies that forecast Lloyd Webber's later orchestral palette and Rice's lyrical idiosyncrasies, while dramaturgical choices reflect a hybrid of music hall tradition and emerging concept-musical techniques associated with American musical theatre influences like Stephen Sondheim and Leonard Bernstein. The work invites study for its treatment of charity, class, and performance in Victorian settings and for its role in the canonization of two major late-twentieth-century theatre figures.
Category:Musicals by Andrew Lloyd Webber Category:Works by Tim Rice