McGann's first breakthrough role was as the eponymous hero in the company's production of Lennon in 1981, which received good reviews and ran for 10 months at the London Astoria Theatre, winning McGann the first of his two Olivier Award nominations for best actor in a West End theatre production. He was later to reprise the role for the film John and Yoko: A Love Story for NBC television in the United States in 1985.[citation needed]
Perplexed Music - Short film written and directed by McGann and winner of the LA Shorts Platinum Award for Best Short Film, Newcastle International Film Festival Award for Best Short Film, Beverley Hills Film Festival Best Short, Red Corner (Sweden) Film Festival Best Short (33 film festival awards in total)
Two of Us - the Lennon & McCartney Songbook for the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra, co-written with Bob Eaton and directed by McGann for the RTE Orchestra Dublin, Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra Liverpool, The Northern Sinfonia Newcastle, the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra and the Sibelius Orchestra Lahti, Finland
Imagine Lennon for the Stadsteatern Gothenburg, Sweden, co-written with Bob Eaton
Backstories, written and directed by McGann for the Merton Music Foundation and performed at the Royal Albert Hall in 2015
The Sunderland Saga, an educational commission written and directed by McGann for Sunderland City Council in 2011
The Legend of Spottee's Cave - a film project commissioned by Sunderland City Council and produced and directed by McGann in 2011 which received a UK Arts and Culture Award nomination for best educational film
The Could Lad of Hylton Castle was directed by McGann and written by Colin Swash.
2007–present
Since 2007, McGann has been the director of Drama Direct Ltd, a creative production company producing original productions and projects for the entertainment and education industries.[4]
In 2017, McGann launched a successful Kickstarter campaign to fund his short film Perplexed Music, based on the Elizabeth Barrett Browning Petrarchan sonnet of the same name. McGann's film is written and directed and stars his brother Paul and nephew Jake "Sonny" McGann in leading roles. The film was released in 2018.[5]