The Commitments (musical)
The Commitments, also known as The Commitments: The Saviours of Soul, is a musical by Roddy Doyle based on his 1987 novel. It follows a group of unemployed Irish youths who start a soul music band. The show features classic soul and rock & roll songs from the 1950s and 60s, such as Think, (I Can't Get No) Satisfaction, Papa Was a Rollin' Stone, and Night Train. All the songs are performed by the band on stage, so Doyle says it’s not a traditional jukebox musical.
The musical premiered in 2013 at the Palace Theatre in London. Previews began on 21 September 2013, with official opening night on 8 October. Doyle wrote the book himself, after initially resisting the idea of turning the novel into a musical, and the show was directed by Jamie Lloyd, with choreography by Ann Yee and design by Soutra Gilmour. The West End run lasted until 1 November 2015.
A UK and Ireland tour followed in 2016, and the production later played Dublin’s Bord Gáis Energy Theatre in October, before finishing its run at the Bradford Alhambra Theatre on 13 May 2017. The Dublin production featured some cast members from the West End show and was directed by C Jay Ranger.
A new UK and Ireland tour began in September 2022 at the Churchill Theatre, Bromley, after a delay due to the COVID-19 pandemic. It was directed by Andrew Linnie, who had previously acted in the London production and on earlier tours.
The show features nineteen main songs plus nineteen short soul and Motown sound bites, and runs about 2 hours 25 minutes with a 15-minute interval. The West End production received mixed reviews.
This page was last edited on 2 February 2026, at 09:57 (CET).