The Production
1916, is a new, epic musical; a love story set in Dublin during The Rising of the same year. Its planned opening is set for Boston in 2012, before transferring to Broadway, London and Dublin in time for the Centenary of The Rising. The original concept by Sean Ferris, has been developed by John Cameron and Simon Humphreys; John Cameron is best known for his orchestral score for Les Misérables.
In 2011, there are 80 million Irish around the world; 4 million of them live in Ireland.
At the heart of the story, our heroine, Bridie, falls in love with a British soldier; maybe he is her way out, her ticket to England, but Bridie’s brother, Ciáran, is determined to fight for the freedom of the nation. Ireland’s sovereignty has been held under the British heel for 900 years, and after decades of famine and depression, the population has been depleted by hunger and is now leaving in hordes, mostly emigrating to the USA.