Billy Bishop Goes to War is a Canadian musical, written by John MacLachlan Gray in collaboration with the actor Eric Peterson.
The original production toured across Canada, and also was staged in Washington, DC, both on Broadway and off-Broadway in New York City, at the Edinburgh Festival, in Los Angeles and at the Comedy Theatre in London.
[2] In 1998, when they were 52, Gray and Peterson revised the show, adding one new song and presenting events through the eyes of a much older Bishop recalling his wartime exploits.
[6] in 2018 the show was revived by Proud Haddock and ran at the Jermyn Street Theatre and the Southwark Playhouse and was directed by Jimmy Walters.
The production was reproduced for WDR Television in Germany, starring Hans Peter Korf, with Gray on piano and vocals.
A second adaption of the most recent production, directed by Barbara Willis-Sweete, premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival in 2010.
In 2009, Eye Weekly critic Christopher Hoile observed, "The achievement of the piece is in formulating, perhaps for the first time, what a Canadian hero is like... Peterson and Gray emphasize not only how accidental Bishop's heroism is but how aware he is of his oafishness and his luck.