Le monde des musicals

Poppy, a pantomime parody which explores British imperialism and the nineteenth-century opium wars, was first staged by the Royal Shakespeare Company in 1982. It won the S.W.E.T. award for Musical of the Year and was later re-mounted at the Adelphi. In 1988 the show was revived in a new version at the Half Moon Theatre and that is the text available here.
Poppy is a celebration of Victorian values and exposes the hypocrisy, racism, drug dealing, money worship and sexual repression of the time through its favourite entertainment form. Dick Whittington, his man Jack, Sally the Principal Girl, the Dame, two pantomime horses, a flying ballet, a transformation scene and even the traditional song-sheet are all brought on to tell the serious and finally devastating story of the single most profitable crop of the British East India Company.
Monty Norman's exuberant score, for an orchestra of six, is vibrant, tuneful and ironically arousing.

Poppy premiered on 25 September 1982 at the Barbican Centre performed by the Royal Shakespeare Company. That year, it won the Laurence Olivier Award for best new musical. On 14 November 1983, the play was moved to the Adelphi Theatre and ran until 18 February 1984. The show was revived in December 1988 at the now-closed Half Moon Theatre (with Louise Gold as Dick Whittington), in 1998 by the Chelsea Players, and again in March 2005 by the Italia Conti Academy at the Landor Theatre.

A 'script-in-hand' performance was given as part of the Royal Shakespeare Company's 50th Birthday Celebrations on 9 July 2011, directed by Mark Ravenhill, with both Peter Nichols and Monty Norman in the audience.

Act One
• "The Emperor's Greeting"
• "Dunroamin-on-the-Down"
• "Whoa, Boy"
• "The Good Old Days"
• "Why Must I?"
• "In These Chambers"
• "If You Want to Make a Killing"
• "Nostalgie de la Boue"
• "John Companee"
• "Poppy"

Act Two
• "China Clipper"
• "The Bounty of the Earth"
• "The Emperor's Lament"
• "China Sequence"
• "They All Look the Same To Us"
• "The Blessed Trinity" (Civilisation, Commerce and Christianity)
• "Sir Richard's Song"
• "Rock-A-Bye Randy"
• "The Dragon Dance"
• "Rat-a-Tat-Tat"
• "Finale"

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