Written in the operatic style similar to the creative team's previous efforts, Les Misérables and Miss Saigon, the bulk of the show is sung-through, with little spoken dialogue between the musical numbers.

Beaten by the priests due to his failure to consummate the union, Martin abandons his home and Bertrande to fight the Protestant Huguenots, and it is during the skirmishes that he befriends Arnaud du Thil with whom he shares his history, beginning the story at this point, seven years later, in medias res.

As Bertrande, secretly converted to Protestantism, also turns Arnaud to her faith, Guillaume uncovers their beliefs and so they are assaulted by a roused mob.

The authorities arrest Arnaud—still claiming that he is Martin—under charges of deception and at the end of the trial, Martin Guerre himself, having apparently survived the war, appears as the last witness.

While the cast continued to perform the show, the creative team – now augmented by additional lyricist Clark – rewrote large portions of the book, adding new scenes and songs, shortening the beginning, providing a happier ending, and shifting the focus to Bertrande.

Artistic Director Jude Kelly invited the writers Alain Boublil and Claude-Michel Schonberg to rework their musical there, and in a co-production between the West Yorkshire Playhouse and Cameron Mackintosh, Martin Guerre opened on December 8, 1998.

[2] Artistic Director Joe Dowling welcomed the opportunity for a co-production between the Guthrie Theater and Cameron Mackintosh so that Martin Guerre could be fine-tuned for its first American audience.

This production made additional changes to the premise of the previous versions of the musical; Bertrande does not (appear to) know that the imposter is not her returning husband until the court scene in Act 2.

This production also had more spoken dialogue, a conscious decision made by the composers, who reworked the show whilst they were in rehearsals for The Pirate Queen.

[6] Schönberg and Boublil revealed in an interview with The Age that Martin Guerre is being modified “very extensively” after the duo revisited the show during the COVID-19 lockdown, after producer Cameron Mackintosh returned the rights to the musical back to the pair.