Someone like You

Someone Like You is a musical with a book by Robin Midgley and Fay Weldon, lyrics by Dee Shipman, and music by Petula Clark. Based on a concept developed by Clark and Ferdie Pacheco over a period of several years, it is set in West Virginia immediately after the end of the Civil War. Originally entitled Amen, it was conceived as a dark view of the difficulties Southerners faced dealing with carpetbaggers during the Reconstruction period, and also dealt with the problems of morphine-addicted Confederate soldiers returning home. It lost many of its serious overtones as the project evolved; Clark and Shipman's original book was revised substantially by Weldon (who also contributed the new title), and the plot became convoluted, often bordering on the ridiculous. Shipman later stated, "For all the faults there were in the original book . . . it was better than the hybrid we ended up with because it had passion." The story centers on Abigail Kane, who journeys to America from her native England with her son Andy in search of her preacher husband, who allegedly had gone to the States to participate in the skirmish between North and South. She comes to the aid of the Major, a doctor struggling to care for a multitude of injured soldiers without the benefit of medical supplies, and soon discovers her missing husband is involved in shady dealings not usually associated with a man of the cloth. Drawn together out of both necessity and desire, Abigail and the Major forsake their marital vows and become involved in a passionate romance. Directed by Midgley, the musical premiered on 25 October 1989 at the Cambridge Arts Theatre in Cambridge, and in his review in the Cambridge Evening News, Alan Kersey wrote, "Petula Clark proved last night at the world premiere of Someone Like You that she can still work wonders both on stage and in the tough real world of show business." The production toured the UK through 9 December.