Beatles musical world premiere at Epstein Theatre this autumn

A new musical inspired by the Beatles’ formative years in Hamburg is set to receive its world premiere in Liverpool this autumn, Arts City Liverpool can exclusively reveal today.

Shake It Up Baby, written by Ian Salmon and starring Andrew Schofield, will be staged at the Epstein Theatre from September 26 to October 11.

The musical, directed by Stephen Fletcher and with a cast of 10 actor-musicians, explores how the Beatles went from what Salmon describes as “probably the worst band in town (Liverpool)" to – after learning their craft in the clubs of St Pauli - “the best band on the planet by a very, very long way”.

Schofield will play Allan Williams, the band’s first manager who negotiated for them to play in the German seaport in August 1960 but later became best known as, in the words of his own autobiography, the man who gave the Beatles away.

Salmon was asked if he would be interested in writing the stage musical by film director Roger Appleton who shot the 2024 documentary No Hamburg, No Beatles and had seen the original run of Salmon’s musical Girls Don’t Play Guitars at the Royal Court.

The Liverpool playwright explains: “While Roger had been making a documentary someone in the production team said ‘do you know what would be a good idea? A musical to go with this’. Since I’d just come off the back of Girl’s Don’t Play Guitars, he asked me if I fancied writing a musical.

“And you’d have to be some kind of idiot to say no to that!

“It’s a chance to tell part of the greatest story in the history of rock ‘n’ roll. Literally the two years where they become them. It’s about what it takes to let the Beatles be the Beatles.”

The musical will transport audiences to the wild streets and clubs around Hamburg’s notorious Reeperbahn where – in a deal brokered by Williams - Lennon, McCartney, Harrison, Pete Best and Stuart Sutcliffe played by night and slept in fleapits during the day, and where they honed their own unique sound and performance style.

Schofield’s Williams will also act as a sometime narrator in the piece, while the soundtrack will be packed with classic rock 'n' roll and other songs the Beatles performed at the Indra, Kaiserkeller, Top-Ten and Star clubs.

Stephen Fletcher, who himself played Paul McCartney in Lennon at the Royal Court in 2010 – working alongside Schofield as the older John, adds: “It’s a story of success, love, fate, but also sadness.

“It’s about telling a really good story. It’s an all-Liverpool cast - 10 actor musicians, all Liverpool crew and creative team and I’m really excited about it.”

Above: Andrew Schofield will play Beatles' manager Allan Williams. Top: Schofield with writer Ian Salmon (left) and director Stephen Fletcher (right). Photos by David Munn.

Shake It Up Baby’s creative team also features Olivier Award-nominated George Francis as musical arranger and director, Kate Harvey as sound designer and lighting design by Ciaran Cunningham.

Meanwhile the musical’s producers include Scott Millaney who cut his teeth with Island Records in the late 60s and then became known as one of the ‘godfathers of the music video’ as a co-founder of MGMM, the company behind more than 1,500 videos for superstars like Queen, David Bowie, Tina Turner, Elton John, Duran Duran and Whitney Houston, and including The Buggles’ ironic Video Killed the Radio Star.

He was also, incidentally, a producer on the 1986 film Sid and Nancy in which Andrew Schofield played Johnny Rotten to Gary Oldman’s Sid Vicious.

Shake It Up Baby is at the Epstein Theatre from September 26 to October 11. More details and tickets HERE