Hosea

The Second Collaboration

Following the unexpected success of their first musical, "Take-Over Bid", Captains John Gowans and John Larsson were encouraged to write another. By this time (November 1967), the Gowans family had moved to Bromley Corps, and in May 1968, the newly married Larssons were appointed to Ealing.

"There was some pressure from Commissioner Cooper to write another musical and produce it. He suggested that perhaps one of the prophets of the Old Testament might inspire us. We settled for Hosea and set to work." — General John Gowans (from his autobiography)

Commissioner William Cooper, who had championed "Take-Over Bid", suggested the biblical story of the prophet Hosea as potential source material. The writers embraced the idea.

Writing and Development

The story of Hosea's faithfulness to his unfaithful wife, mirroring God's relationship with his covenant-breaking people, proved a powerful subject.

"We were moved in the writing of it. We placed the Bible story in a modern setting to stress its relevance to the world we know best." — General John Gowans

A cast of young people from the South London Division served as "guinea pigs" during the development process, providing feedback as the script and music took shape.

The Mini-Musical Concept

A distinctive feature of "Hosea" is the inclusion of a 25-minute "mini-musical" within the main narrative, dramatising the biblical story.

"The idea of stealing Shakespeare's habit of setting a play within the play appealed to me enormously... The fictitious youth group upon which the main body of the musical's story depends decides to make the production of a stage show a major project for their club. They choose the Bible story as their project, don suitable costumes and begin to sing more or less non-stop for almost half an hour." — General John Gowans

Premiere and Reception

The musical was completed in the autumn of 1969. A private preview was held for Salvation Army officers at the Gaiety Theatre in Bognor Regis in October.

The first public performance took place at Lewisham Town Hall on 12 November 1969. The initial version ran for three hours, necessitating significant cuts.

"The mini-musical did all that we hoped it might, but, to our horror, at the first performance we discovered we had written a three-hour show. It was a case of taking the scissors and discarding songs and whole sections of text. It was a tearful business... In fact a much better musical was the result." — General John Gowans

The musical received positive reviews. John Lambert of the London Evening News called it a hit and suggested it had mainstream potential.

Publication and Legacy

As with "Take-Over Bid", official publishing channels initially showed no interest. The Salvation Army's National Youth Department published the script themselves in January 1970.

"Again, the Youth Department had to publish Hosea itself, as there was no 'official' interest in the idea. Fortunately all copies were quickly sold to a now international market, and reprinting was necessary." — General John Gowans

Several songs from "Hosea", particularly from the mini-musical section, have endured and found their way into Salvation Army worship, including "If human hearts are often tender" (How Much More) and "Don't assume that God's dismissed you from his mind" (His Love Remains the Same).