Poppy was performed twice at the Half Moon once in August running from the 25th of August to the 24th of September 1988 and the second performance was from the 28th of December to the 28th of January 1989.
Poppy opened at the Barbican Theatre in 1892 and transferred to the West End where it was voted Best Musical by the Society of the West End Theatres (S.W.E.T). Peter Nichols and Monty Norman rewrote and re-scored it into a rougher, tougher, shorter, sharper show for its new production at the Half Moon.
Actor, Josie Lawrence talks about the musical Poppy and a dressing room theft which led to a particularly funny incident on stage. Interviewed by Toni Tsaera.
Chris Bond was Artistic Director of Half Moon Theatre on the Mile End Road from 1985-88. He talks about Poppy, which he decided to produce for his dentist, Mr Lee. The show had a large cast and was technically very complicated. Interviewed by Rosie Vincent.
“Actually, I have [George Costigan’s] wife, Julia North, to thank for my entire career. Even after [Rita, Sue and Bob Too] was released, I still didn’t have an Equity card so I couldn’t work. Jules was working at the Half Moon theatre down in east London and cast me in the chorus for this show called Poppy. It was about the opium wars but done like a pantomime. I ended up half of a horse called Randy. I was the back end of Randy, but it finally got me an Equity card. Bless Jules – and Randy – because God knows what I’d be doing now.”
Siobhan Finneran, from an interview in The Observer on Saturday 31 December 2022.