"I first read this musical about a year ago and immediately felt it was one of the funniest and most original pieces I had come across in years. I was already a great fan of Alan Bennett's hilarious film "A Private Function" so I could see how brilliantly the American writers Ron Cowen and Daniel Lipman had adapted and extended the original, incorporating a joyously infectious score by George Stiles and Anthony Drewe.
When I agreed to produce "Betty" I certainly didn't imagine that this unique musical tale set in 1947 would be so topical. From its opening number "Goodbye Austerity Britain", with a Government mantra of "Fair Shares For All", greedy local Councillors lauding it over a hungry belt-tightened population on rations, the worst winter in living memory and even a Royal Wedding (Princess Elizabeth and Prince Philip's!) time seems to have stood still.
But most great stories are timeless and this one revolves around an adorable pig called Betty who is secretly being raised to be the main course at a very private function to celebrate the Royal Wedding. To find out what happens you need to trot to the Novello Theatre."
Ron Cowen and Daniel Lipman wrote in 2011
Divine Intervention...
Betty entered our lives unexpectedly, but with such perfect timing that one can only regard her appearance as Divine Intervention – or, at the very best, a porcine blessing in disguise.
At the time, back in 2005, we were the executive producers and writers of a television series filming in Toronto. If any of you has ever done that sort of thing, then you know that your hours aren’t 24/7. They’re more like 25/8. After being at the studio all day, our ‘writing day’ would usually begin after midnight and often last until three in the morning. On one of those cold, Canadian nights – it was around 2am – Dan took a break to make himself a cup of tea. He clicked on the TV. And that’s when it happened. There on screen was – The Pig.
Something in the tea…
One of the channels was airing Alan Bennett’s and Malcolm Mowbray’s delicious film A Private Function, a favourite of ours. Perhaps it was the late hour. Perhaps there was something in the tea. Perhaps he was simply out of his mind from overwork and exhaustion but, as Dan likes to tell it, “The pig started to sing to me”. Then it struck him. What is we were to adapt this film as a stage musical? As it happens, we had been longing to return to the theatre for some time. It’s where our hearts have always been and where our careers began.
We had met – dare we say it? – 40 years ago, as young playwrights at the Eugene O’Neill National Playwrights Conference in Waterford, Connecticut.
Ron’s initial reaction wasn’t quite as enthusiastic as Dan’s. “They kill the pig and eat it!” Not exactly “Oh, What A Beautiful Morning”! A lot of arguing but not much writing was done that night.
However, as we started truffling around (sorry!), we began to discover delectable possibilities. The characters had strong wants. There were social and political conflicts between the “haves” and “have-nots”. And there was certainly a reason to sing. In hard times, what better way to express one’s hopes and dreams than in fantasy and song?
Now, one might wonder – and many have – how two Americans could possibly relate to life in a small Yorkshire town in post-war Austerity Britain. While it’s true this particular story may be set in the North of England rather than say, Baltimore or Cincinnati, nevertheless it’s a universal fable that could happen anywhere. It’s a story about hunger. And not just hunger for food. Hunger to be noticed, hunger for attention, hunger to be accepted. Who hasn’t felt that? Or how it feels to be rejected, bullied and dismissed like Gilbert and Joyce? Or the desire to get even? Desperation leads to desperate acts.
In Bennett’s screenplay, these desperate acts are hilarious thank to his singular wit. But underneath the laughter are the painful repercussions of a country ravaged by loss and starvation. The contract of dark and light, the collision of farce and tragedy, have always appealed to us and have been part of everything we have written.
With that in mind, we began our work...
Once again, Divine intervention led us first to our treasured collaborators, George Stiles and Anthony Drewe, who have given these characters glorious musical expression with their inspired score.
Then to our esteemed director ,Richard Eyre, unerring in his taste and talent. Next to Stephen Mear, who possesses the uncanny ability to transform one’s thoughts into movement. And finally, and most felicitously, to Betty’s loving godfather, Cameron Mackintosh, a producer who produces with his heart, not his checkbook. Trust us, we know the difference.
More things to heaven and earth…
But that’s not quite the end of Betty’s tale. We must confess that we would like to credit ourselves with some prescient gift of being able to “see around the corner”. But the truth is, when we started work on Betty in 2005, we had no more idea than anyone else that in 2011 there would be a New Austerity Britain, or that a Royal Wedding would once more be a celebration of hope and pride in the midst of a very difficult period – just as it was in 1947. Of course, once could dismiss this as a curious coincidence. But by now we recognise it for what it is: Divine intervention once again.
Proving that there are more things to heaven and earth than these two Americans can comprehend. In fact at this point, you could probably convince us that, when no one is looking, pigs really do fly.
George Stiles and Anthony Drewe wrote in 2011
A Marriage Made In Heaven
We have the composer Stephen Schwartz to thank for our involvement with Betty Blue Eyes. Around the time that Ron and Dan came up with the idea for the stage musical they had dinner with Stephen (Dan had appeared as an actor in one of the first productions of Godspell, and they have been friends ever since) and told him about A Private Function. They asked Stephen for suggestions as to who might write the score and he replied that there were only two people he could think of, Stiles and Drewe.
At the time we were still busy preparing Mary Poppins for her maiden flight on Broadway – so much so that our beloved agent, Patricia Macnaughton, didn’t think it was the moment to trouble us with an idea for a new project. Thankfully for us, Ron and Dan were undeterred and waited until Mary Poppins was safely ensconced at the New Amsterdam Theatre before approaching us again – and we were intrigued.
We only had a vague recollection of the film with Maggie Smith, Michael Palin and a pig, but we agreed to meet with Ron and Dan on out next visit to Los Angeles.
The marriage was made
Since we normally initiate our own ideas for musicals, and indeed had several new projects that were put on the back burner during the writing of Mary Poppins, we were not sure we were going to embrace the idea of A Private Function as we drove to Brentwood, LA in the last week of January 2008 – but then we met Ron and Dan and that changed everything.
What was supposed to be an 11am brunch meeting turned into lunch, which turned into dinner, and the marriage was made. Not only did we adore the writers, but we loved their vision for adapting the screenplay.
For two Americans they had an amazingly British sensibility, and for two writers how had never written a musical before they had an extraordinary grasp of song placement and what can be conveyed musically and lyrically. The morning after meeting them we wrote the first song, “Fair Shares For All”, and the next two songs followed in quick succession, “A Place On The Parade” and “Magic Fingers”.
You’re Mad!
Cameron had heard from Patricia that we were adapting an Alan Bennett screenplay and that in her opinion we weren’t getting on fast enough with the writing. Thus, unbeknown to us, Cameron had something of an agenda when, in January 2009, he took us to dinner in Amsterdam during pre-production for the Dutch Mary Poppins and asked us what we were up to. When we told him we were working on two or three projects simultaneously he said, “You’re mad! You should concentrate on one and get it finished – the Alan Bennett.”
Without wishing to let Cameron know that we were taking his advice, we went away and concentrated solely on writing A Private Function until it was finished (it doesn’t do to let producers know they are right!)
Nine months later, having completed the score, we were seeing Cameron for a Poppins meeting when he asked, “When do I get to hear it?”. We told him of an impending workshop of the show tht we’d organised to attract potential producers. He replied “I’m not saying I want to produce it, I’m not saying you’d want me to produce it – I’m just saying that as your friend, I’d love to hear it.”
So, we presented him with the full script and songs on a Wednesday in October 2009, telling him that we needed a reply by the Friday (it doesn’t do to let producers have too long to make their minds up!). Always one to rise to the challenge, he did read and listen and called on the Friday morning to say he loved it and would like to produce the show.
Between October and December we worked with Cameron at fine tuning the score and injecting even more of what he describes as ‘delirium’ into the musical numbers. It was a very happy time as the score started to find its fully fledged moments of fantasy that have become something of a signature of the piece.
It was then at a hugely memorable lunch in London on the 16th December 2009, with the snow drifting past the window at Elena’s L’Etoile restaurant, that Cameron moved us to tears by saying that he had known us for 25 years, and that it had been well worth the wait (it doesn’t do to let producers rush you!).
At the same lunch he produced a wonderful initial rendering of the poster by Dewynters with the title Betty Blue Eyes – we were immediately sold on the new name and on the graphic. The only downside was that our 2010 was a very busy year for Cameron with some French show of his, hence we had to wait until March 2011 to see Betty Blue Eyes batting her eyelids at the Novello – but we too think it was well worth the wait.
Cameron Mackintosh said in 2011
When I agreed to produce "Betty" I certainly didn't imagine that this unique musical tale set in 1947 would be so topical. From its opening number "Goodbye Austerity Britain", with a Government mantra of "Fair Shares For All", greedy local Councillors lauding it over a hungry belt-tightened population on rations, the worst winter in living memory and even a Royal Wedding (Princess Elizabeth and Prince Philip's!) time seems to have stood still. 
Ron Cowen and Daniel Lipman wrote in 2011
What is we were to adapt this film as a stage musical? As it happens, we had been longing to return to the theatre for some time. It’s where our hearts have always been and where our careers began. 
Then to our esteemed director ,Richard Eyre, unerring in his taste and talent. Next to Stephen Mear, who possesses the uncanny ability to transform one’s thoughts into movement. And finally, and most felicitously, to Betty’s loving godfather, Cameron Mackintosh, a producer who produces with his heart, not his checkbook. Trust us, we know the difference.
It was then at a hugely memorable lunch in London on the 16th December 2009, with the snow drifting past the window at Elena’s L’Etoile restaurant, that Cameron moved us to tears by saying that he had known us for 25 years, and that it had been well worth the wait (it doesn’t do to let producers rush you!). 
