Martin Guerre at the Old Vic: Rehashed musical is still over-wrought

Bethan Louise Honer (Young Bertrande) and Dan Hand (Young Martin) in Martin Guerre at The Old Vic 2026. - (Helen Maybanks)

Insanity, they say, is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different outcome. Someone should tell composer Claude-Michel Schönberg and his co-author and prime lyricist Alain Boublil.

The French duo has spent three decades, with many different creative teams, trying to reshape their 1996 pudding Martin Guerre into something that will stand comparison with their operatic juggernauts Les Miserables and Miss Saigon.