Maggie May is a musical with a book by Alun Owen and music and lyrics by Lionel Bart. Based on "Maggie May", a traditional ballad about a Liverpool prostitute, it deals with trade union ethics and disputes among Irish-Catholic dockers in Liverpool, centring on the life of streetwalker Margaret Mary Duffy and her sweetheart, a freewheeling sailor. The show includes bittersweet ballads, robust chorus numbers, and even some rock 'n' roll, making it one of the most musically diverse British scores of the 1960s. Steven Suskin, in reviewing a newly released CD, wrote: the show begins with a "rather weird folk-ballad", and has "a couple of gentle lullaby-like ballads...raucous production numbers... a tongue-twister, set to an almost violent waltz", along with a distinctive version of the title song "which mixes a sailor's chanty with — what, Dixieland?". History The West End production opened on September 22, 1964 at London's Adelphi Theatre, where it ran for 501 performances. The cast included Rachel Roberts, Kenneth Haigh, Andrew Keir, Barry Humphries, John Junkin, and Geoffrey Hughes. Georgia Brown later replaced Roberts in the title role, who was subsequently replaced by Judith Bruce. Maggie May won the Novello Award for outstanding score of the year and the Critics' Poll as Best New British Musical. The musical has had subsequent productions, most notably by National Youth Theatre in 1992 and at the Finborough Theatre in 2019. Synopsis Act I Patrick Casey is a young sailor from a Catholic Liverpool-Irish family. His father was a famous trades union leader, who was killed during a strike. Patrick rejects his father's advice in order to live a life of exploration and adventure as an ocean going seaman. Back in Liverpool, his childhood sweetheart, Margaret Duffy, has become a popular dockland prostitute known as Maggie May. All the sailors are devoted to her because of her generous nature; however she is still in love with Patrick, and calls all her clients "Casey". Patrick returns to Liverpool to work on the docks, and is greeted by the other dock workers. He tells a tale about his visit to an African country, where he was expected to participate in a militia to put down demonstrations by exploited African workers, but refused. The other dockers see him as a potential leader in their struggles, but he refuses to become involved and attempts to revive his relationship with Maggie. Act II As Maggie