Mackem musical makes its mark

The Sunderland Story reopened at the city’s Empire last night, with a sprinkling of Mackem cup magic to cheer the opening night crowds.

Players from the club’s legendary 1973 FA Cup winning team – Jimmy Montgomery, Richie Pitt, Dick Malone and Micky Horswill – were in the audience, and on stage with a replica of the cup, as The Sunderland Story made its long-awaited return.

The group got one of the biggest cheers of the night, when they held the cup aloft once again, along with popular player and pundit Gary Bennett and the team’s Wembley dancing manager Bob Stokoe’s daughter, Karen.

Their appearances were the highlight of a special night, along with a rousing rendition of two club anthems, ’Sunderland ’Til I Die’ and ‘Wise Men Say’ - and the big screen images of club legends such as Len Shackleton, Charlie Hurley, Kevin Ball, Niall Quinn and even Bradley Lowery.

Starting prior to the funeral of the Carter family patriarch, The Sunderland Story covers the history of the city’s football club, through the family, from the club’s formation in 1879 to Ballard’s goal the other night. The 1973 FA Cup triumph – Sunderland’s last major trophy win – may also get a mention.

The updated Mackem musical, featuring a local cast, takes supporters on a journey from the early years after they were founded by local schoolteacher James Allan, played in blue and joined, and won, the Football League.

For years, they were one of the best club’s in the country, and the world, earning the nickname ‘The Team Of All The Talents’ winning titles and cups and once beating local rivals Newcastle United 9-1 (in the first of many jokes and digs at the Geordies’ expense). They later became known as The Bank of England Club.

And of course, like any good football and Sunderland fan, The Sunderland Story writer Nicky Allt uses opportunities for Sunderland fans to laugh at themselves - with references to Jack Rodwell, the Mick McCarthy and Roy Keane bust-up and Michael Gray’s dreadful penalty kick.

And to cry. The pictorial memorial to legends who have passed – not least young cancer victim Bradley Lowery – was a poignant moment in the 90-plus minute performance. 

There’s even a reference to George Forster, the 99-year-old former Sunderland Supporters Association chairman, still attending matches and theatre performances (and possibly Wembley). But he deserves it. He’s another Sunderland legend and arguably their greatest ever fan.

There are some familiar tunes and songs, and a few new ones, led by a five-piece band, while the cast perform beneath huge flags bearing images of Len Shackleton and Kevin Ball, and in front of a big screen which shows the highlights of the club’s most memorable goals, performances and players. 

Every goal is still cheered as if it’s live, and if a Sunderland legend pops up on the TV, he’s bound to get a resounding cheer too. 

Sunderland’s chief business officer David Bruce was with his parents at last night’s opening and the club has once again given its full support to the production - even holding auditions for local actors at the Stadium of Light.

He said: “We are thrilled to be supporting the return of The Sunderland Story and are excited for its comeback in 2025. 

“My time at MLS meant I missed it the first time around, but through family and friends, I know just how well the show captured the essence and heart of our Club. 

“Sunderland is all about family and community, and I can’t wait to enjoy with my loved ones and fellow supporters this May.”

He’s not the only one.

There is not a man, woman or child who was in the Empire audience last night – or in fact is likely to be until the end of its run on May 31 – who does not want Sunderland to win at Wembley and make their long-awaited return to the promise land of the Premier League. 

If there was, they kept it quiet.

And in one of the most dramatic weeks in Sunderland Football Club’s long history of dramatic weeks, of course the ending to The Sunderland Story needed a quick re-write.

And so – Spoiler Alert – Ballard’s dramatic late play-off winner is included towards the end of the play which opened in front of a delighted audience at the Sunderland Empire last night (THU).

When Ballard’s injury-time of extra-time play-off winning header hit the bar and then the net on Tuesday night, writer Nicky was in a pub near the Stadium of Light with his Mackem mate, Dave.

“I had a ticket and I was supposed to go to the game” he said, before adding like a true football fan… 

“I ended up watching it in the pub because I didn't want to defy a true Sunderland supporter a ticket to the game.”

After a brief visit to Vesta Tilley’s, the pair watched the start of the second leg of Sunderland’s tense play-off semi-final against Coventry City in Chester’s near the Royal Hospital, before settling into The Three Stories for the unforgettable denouement. 

And when Ballard’s 123rd minute header clinched Sunderland’s place in the Wembley final showdown with Sheffield United, Liverpool-born Allt got his pen and pad out to add the moment to his play, which opened at Sunderland Empire last night.

“I had to include it, didn’t I?” he said. “People coming in to see the show would have said ‘but where’s Dan Ballard’s goal?’ so we had to add it.

“And the funniest thing, from a theatrical sense, was the way he couldn't get his shirt off as he celebrated the goal. 

“It was just a fantastic moment and over the two games, he was absolutely fantastic, like a man mountain and the manager bringing him back early was a bit of a risk, but it paid off.

“I’m just really happy for the supporters because, let's be honest, they've been through so much crap over the last 20 years. I just hope they can get the job done at Wembley now!”

Liverpool fan Nicky (although he admits he’s lapsed recently) has also written similar work on his beloved team, including the excellent One Night In Istanbul, and further stories about Glasgow Celtic.

He wanted a show exclusively for Sunderland, and its Empire, which studied the history of the club – and he has been expertly guided by SAFC historian Rob Mason – but also the city and its industrial background. 

The journey takes in the rise, and collapse of Wearside’s shipbuilding, railway and coal industries and Nicky admits he tinkered with his original script to make more local references throughout, which will resonate with fresh audiences, and those returning for a second look; the inclusion of ‘pink slices’, ‘Jackie White’s’ and Vaux Brewery even stretched into the pre and post-match hospitality.

Nicky said: “I think it was Peter Reid, who first said to me that I should write the Sunderland story, because there's been a lot of ups and downs, times of economic hardship, times of unemployment with the closures of the mines and the shipbuilding, and as I read the history of the club, I realised how fantastic the story is.

“At the turn of the century they were probably the biggest club in the world, when the English League was the league to be in, and they kept winning the league, but when you get to 1973, when they were the underdogs in the FA Cup Final against Leeds, that was unbelievable for every kid that saw it at the time. 

“As time has gone on though since we first played here, we realised we wanted to write more and more about the city 

“What we’ve noticed is the people who came in to see the show last time, were just as entwined and just loved the stuff about themselves and the things in town, as they are about the team.

“So as much as the story is about Sunderland Football Club; it’s more about the people and the city, so we've added a few more things, and taken a little bit away from the football stuff.

“I don't think it was so much led by the result the other night - although it helps, of course, because you have momentum going into the run.

“This is a close city and a place like Liverpool was years ago where fans here only support their team. Liverpool has become a bit of a world club now and changed quite a bit, but I think it was Niall Quinn who said you don’t see kits of other teams in Sunderland - you see Sunderland shirts on the streets which I love.

“There’s quite a pressure when you’re writing something so close and local and I said to the producer, Howard Grey, we have to get this right and when Sunderland people realised, this is about them, we didn’t have enough nights last time, which is why we wanted to bring it back - and do it even better.”

To find out more about The Sunderland Story and to book tickets, see here.

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