Wanted - The Musical

Wanted follows twin sisters in 1893 who work out that they can pass as white, and then use it: they take up guns, rob whoever they have to, and set about clearing the debt that is going to cost their mother her home. The plan works better than either of them expected, which turns out to be the problem.

Mary and Martha Clarke are sharecroppers' daughters with a deadline and no lawful way of meeting it. As the robberies mount, so does the distance between the women they are pretending to be and the family they are doing it for. The musical is interested in what passing costs: what it buys, who it isolates, and how difficult it becomes to stop once it has started working.

Angelica Chéri wrote the book and lyrics and Ross Baum the music, drawing on Chéri's own family history — the Clarke sisters were real, and she is descended from their line. The piece began under a different title, took the Richard Rodgers Award in 2018, and reached a full production in 2020 before further development.

The score blends gospel, blues and contemporary musical theatre, with demanding vocal writing for the two leads and an ensemble that works partly as chorus and partly as community. The tone swings between the pleasure of a heist and the seriousness of what is being risked, and the show refuses to resolve that tension cheaply.

It suits audiences who want a new musical with a historical spine and a big sound. It lands best live, where two voices in close harmony carry the argument the book is making.