This musical play, originally staged by the Greenwich Theatre Company, dramatises the American civil rights struggle.
This musical play charts the struggle for civil rights in America through the figure of its leader, Martin Luther King (Bari Jonson). The production uses song and drama to recount the key moments of King’s activism, articulating the hopes and fears of the movement he led.
Adapted from Ewan Hooper’s stage musical for the Greenwich Theatre Company, this LWT production brought a potent piece of political theatre to a broadcast audience. The decision to frame the story of Martin Luther King as a musical was a bold one, using song to express the emotional core of the civil rights movement. The television version, directed by John Reardon, retains the theatricality of its source, presenting the historical struggle with a stylized, almost allegorical force. By translating the play for the small screen, LWT provided a platform for a work that directly confronted recent history and its ongoing consequences.
Broadcast: ITV – LWT, 40 Mins, 2 August 1970 at 6:15 PM
Written by: Ewan Hooper
Director: John Reardon
Producer: Malcolm Stewart
Executive Producer: Francis Coleman
Designer: Bryan Bagge
Main Cast: Bari Jonson (Martin Luther King)
