Coppers The Musical: 'It’s like a GAA disco writ large in Dublin'
Paul Howard, creator of Coppers: the Musical.
Life was looking bleak for Paul Howard in 2012. He was a few weeks away from opening his first musical, which was about the collapse of Anglo Irish Bank. Howard – and his co-producer Darren Smith – was spending most of his time in meetings with solicitors instead of in the rehearsal room. Despite pressure to kill the show, which included threats from Anglo’s former CEO and chairman Seán FitzPatrick, the pair decided to go ahead.
“We were lucky not to go to jail,” says Howard. “I remember before one meeting to talk about the legality – or otherwise – of the show, and the likely implications for us, Darren turned to me and said, ‘Jeez, we should have just done Coppers: The Musical.”
