Festival 2023 saw two musicals in the Festival Theatre - both from 20th century America, yet very different in style and content.

Assassins was the first major production of this biting musical comedy since Stephen Sondheim’s death in 2021. Directed by Polly Findlay, this time-bending history of the men and women who attempted to assassinate a President conjured up a surreal carnival atmosphere which extended into the Festival Theatre foyer, with hotdog stalls and music plunging audiences into the world of the US political arena.

Remarkably, Rodgers and Hammerstein’s beloved The Sound of Music had never previously been staged at Chichester. Adam Penford’s new production welcomed back Gina Beck (who had previously played Nellie Forbush in 2021’s South Pacific) to play Maria. Audiences flocked to the story of the von Trapp family’s enforced flight from their homeland in the face of an occupying force, which felt no less pertinent in 2023 than it had in 1938.