Beastie Boys Musical Theater Production Licensed to Ill Tells Story of Their Career

The Camden People’s Theatre in London is putting on Licensed to Ill, a musical theater show about the life and career of the Beastie Boys. The play is presented by Simon Maeder and Adam El Hagar (“Peaky Blinders”, “Tyrant”), and will run from November 23 to December 12. It was co-produced by the theater. 

Here’s a summary of the show:

A brand new show about hip-hop’s most notorious pranksters. Join three young New Yorkers – Mike D, MCA and Ad-Rock – as they go from teenage punks to international rapping legends: The Beastie Boys. Created with creative support from comedy hip-hop legends Abandonman and the Rubberbandits, and using a mix of live music and DJ-ing, Licensed to Ill travels through time from the hiphoppers of ’80s New York to the ’90s gangsters of LA – all the way to the total globalisation of hiphop. This loud, crazy show does to music theatre what hiphop did to tracksuits: make them cool.

The Beastie Boys’ story sheds light on many issues still raising hackles: racism towards & within rap; misogyny; the battle for hiphop’s soul, between those using it for protest, & for profit. We follow the gang from teenage punks, via their discovery by legendary producer Rick Rubin, to their induction into the Rock’n’Roll Hall of Fame.

Reached for comment on whether the Beastie Boys’ camp was involved in the show, Maeder wrote: “Whilst we have ensured the Beastie Boys are fully appraised of our plans for the show, this is an unauthorised production based on the Beastie Boys story.” (Ironically, that means Licensed to Ill is, technically, unlicensed to ill.)

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