--> ''And this, Ladies and Gentlemen, is what [[RetroactiveRecognition failed to launch the careers]] of Creator/TimRice and Creator/AndrewLloydWebber forty years ago.''
-->-- Creator/StephenFry as the narrator

''The Likes of Us'' is the little-known, first-ever [[Creator/AndrewLloydWebber Webber]]/[[Creator/TimRice Rice]] musical. It is [[BasedOnATrueStory based on the true story]] of Thomas John Barnardo, a [[UnclePennybags philanthropist]] who founded homes for destitute children in [[UsefulNotes/VictorianBritain Victorian London]].

Written in 1965, lack of funding prevented the musical being performed until 2005. The play is now almost exclusively staged by amateur theatre groups.

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!!Tropes featured in the musical:

* AngryMobSong: "Hold a March" and "We'll Get Him". The latter is also reprised. Both are sung by crowds of displeased Londoners who think Thomas Barnardo is an interfering prat.
* {{Auction}}: Thomas Bernardo buys a gin-palace, the Edinburgh Castle, in an auction in order to transform it into a tea and coffee establishment.
** The auction song, "Going, Going, Gone", was the first Webber/Rice song ever written.
* BadGirlSong: Rose's "Twice in Love Every Day", which is about [[TheOldestProfession exactly what it sounds like it is]].
* BasedOnATrueStory: Tells the story of Thomas Barnardo's struggle to set up his charity in Victorian Britain. With, y'know, additional musical numbers.
* BetaCouple: Johnny and Jenny.
* BritsLoveTea: Bernardo and Syrie transform the Edinburgh Castle gin-palace into a tea and coffee establishment invoking a huge song-and-dance number, "Have Another Cup Of Tea", from the cockney customers about the wonders of tea.
* BSODSong[=/=]GriefSong: Barnardo's "Where Am I Going?", sung after the death of one of the HeartwarmingOrphan children Barnardo wanted to help.
* DarkReprise: Johnny and Jenny's upbeat love song "Love is Here", which admittedly [[BigLippedAlligatorMoment doesn't actually have any reason for being there]], is reprised in a slower tempo later, as the two lovers are breaking up.
* EvilBrit: The "upper-class villain" side of the trope is demonstrated quite well by the Cabinet (apart from [[TokenGoodTeammate Shaftesbury]]), while the "working-class hooligan" side of things is demonstrated in the cockneys who oppose Barnardo. Impressively, they manage to bring across these stereotypes in a play where all of the heroes are ''also'' British.
* HeartwarmingOrphan: The urchins who convince Barnardo that they need his help.
* TheHeroSucksSong: "We'll Get Him" and "Hold a March".
* HookerWithAHeartOfGold: Rose. Maybe. For most of the play she's nothing but a thorn in Barnardo's side, organising demonstrations and marches against him, but there are some implications that she genuinely means well.
* IAmBecomingSong: "A Strange and Lovely Song" is one for Barnardo.
-->''Before, all my dreams were a pattern;''
-->''Fading colours of grey and brown and blue.''
-->''But the patterns are changing to pictures,''
-->''And I feel like I am changing too.''
* IAmSong: "I'm a Very Busy Man" is one for Barnardo.
* LetterMotif: Johnny and Jenny.
* LowerClassLout: The patrons of the gin palace.
* OdeToIntoxication: Parodied with "Have Another Cup of Tea", sung by the now-reformed gin palace residents, which ''sounds'' like just another song about drinking away your troubles, as could be heard in any number of British pubs... except here, the liquid they're drinking is ''[[BritsLoveTea tea]]''.
* PatrioticFervour: The British Cabinet display a ''lot'' of this in "Lion-Hearted Land". Naturally, since the country in question is [[UsefulNotes/TheBritishEmpire Imperial Britain]], this is played for ComedicSociopathy.
-->''Our noble British Empire is our present to the world!''
-->''[[BlatantLies Joy is omnipresent where our banner is unfurled]]!''
-->''It's amazing how these local fellows toe the line:''
-->''Gunboats in the harbour and the locals in the mine!''
* PatterSong: "Going, Going, Gone" is very fast and very wordy.
* [[QuintessentialBritishGentleman Quintessential British Gentlemen]]: The British cabinet sing an assertion of Britain's imperial might.
-->''Why does England lead the world; Queen and Empire understand?''\\
''Oh, England! Valiant rock of splendour!''\\
''Lionhearted Land!''
* UpperClassTwit: The entire Cabinet, except for Lord Shaftesbury.
* VillainSong: The British Cabinet has "Lion-Hearted Land". Rose and the gin palace patrons have "We'll Get Him" and "Hold a March".
* WineIsClassy: The British cabinet seem to think so.
--> ''Oh, I must comment on this wine; its character is strong,''\\
''Its impudence is striking and its flavour lingers long.''\\
''We can spot these subtleties; in this we stand alone.''\\
''The foreigners are only there to see the grapes get grown.''
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