Gotta Have Faith! How a Shipwrecked Slave Trader Inspired a Cop to Create Broadway's Amazing Grace

The sweet sound of Amazing Grace will officially arrive on Broadway July 16. The new musical details John Newton’s troubled past and path to redemption that ultimately inspired him to write the uplifting hymn “Amazing Grace.” Featuring Josh Young as Newton, Erin Mackey as his childhood sweetheart Mary, Chuck Cooper as his slave Thomas and Tom Hewitt as his father Captain Newton, the new musical brings history alive onstage at the Nederlander Theatre. Read about Amazing Grace’s voyage from 18th-century England to Broadway below!


The Story Begins
John Newton was born in London July 24, 1725 to John Newton Sr., the commander of a merchant ship, and his wife Elizabeth. The young boy got his sea legs early—Elizabeth died when young John was six, so he began taking sailing voyages with his father at age 11. Before leaving to work as a slave master on a Jamaica sugar plantation at 17 (another job his father set up), John met 14-year-old Mary Catlett, a friend of the family. The stubborn teenager fell head over heels for Mary and missed his boat for Jamaica on purpose.


Lost at Sea
John was impressed into service by the Royal Navy at 18, but he found life aboard the H.M.S. Harwich unbearable and was soon transferred to a slave ship called the Pegasus. After clashing with the crew once again, he was left in West Africa and became the slave of Princess Peye, an African Duchess. “She lived in plenty herself, but hardly allowed me sufficient to sustain life, except now and then, when in the highest good humour, she would send me victuals in her own plate after she had dined,” Newton later wrote in a letter. His father eventually sent a ship to rescue him, but when it was caught in a brutal storm, Newton finally hit his breaking point and began praying to God to save him.


Found at Last
After drifting for over a month, the ship finally hit the coast of Ireland. Realizing he could have died, Newton began to believe he had a greater purpose. While the ship was being repaired in Lough Swilly, Newton penned the first verse of a hymn based on his experience: “Amazing grace, how sweet the sound / that saved a wretch like me / I once was lost, but now am found / was blind but now I see.” Newton returned to marry Mary Catlett in 1750. It would be another 20 years, however, before Newton would finish the lyrics—in 1764 he quit the slave trading business to become an ordained priest in Olney, Buckinghamshire (his vicarage is pictured above). There, he collaborated with William Cowper on a song collection called Olney Hymns, featuring "Amazing Grace" with additional verses.


The Hymn’s a Hit
While Olney Hymns wasn't exactly a bestseller (it faded into obscurity after it was published), “Amazing Grace” became popular in the United States during the Second Great Awakening in the early 1800s. Tied to more than 20 melodies, the hymn was eventually partnered with the folk song “New Britain” in 1985, and is most frequently sung to this tune. Over 30 years after retiring from the slave trade, Newton became an abolitionist, citing his prior actions as “a subject of humiliating reflection to me, that I was once an active instrument in a business at which my heart now shudders.” According to Newton biographer Jonathan Aitken, “Amazing Grace” is sung approximately 10 million times a year throughout the world.


New Beginnings
Fast forward to 1997, when police officer Christopher Smith stumbled upon a children’s book about John Newton at the library. He got the idea to write a musical about Newton's astounding life story, but there was only one problem—he had no idea how to write a musical. “I didn’t have training, but what I did have was a story I felt needed to be told,” he said. “And when you feel really inspired by something it’s hard to give up.” After raising an initial $500,000 from friends in the Philadelphia area, Smith’s score attracted the attention of director Gabriel Barre (The Wild Party) and book writer Arthur Giron. The show premiered at Goodspeed Musicals’ Norma Terris Theatre in Chester, CT in the summer of 2012, starring Chris Peluso as John and Whitney Bashor as Mary.


The Windy City
After a successful run at Goodspeed, the creative team set their sights on Broadway. With a new cast, including Jesus Christ Superstar alum Josh Young as John Newton, Chaplin and Wicked’s Erin Mackey as Mary and Tony winner Chuck Cooper as Newton’s slave Thomas, a pre-Broadway tryout of the musical opened at the Bank of America Theatre in Chicago, IL in the fall of 2014. While some reviewers questioned how redemptive the tale of a slave trader could be, the creative team remained optimistic. “I have a deep belief that people everywhere have a certain basic need to be loved in spite of their faults,” Smith told The New York Times. “I think the show brings all that to life.”


Broadway, Ahoy
Featuring the entire Chicago cast, Amazing Grace has arrived on Broadway to tell John Newton’s tale of redemption. “I always say it’s stranger than fiction, because I read the script for the first time and I was like, ‘This can’t all possibly be true,’” Mackey told Broadway.com. “But the parts that you think aren’t true really are.” Although changes have been made from the Chicago run, John Newton’s journey from slave trader to saved man hasn't been sugarcoated. “[It's story] of forgiveness," Smith added, "of second chances and of making a difference, which is so relevant and potent today.”