25 Years of Musicals

EODS have a great history of staging high quality concerts, so my expectations were high as I joined the audience for their ’25 Years of Musicals’.  Co-directors Ashleigh Houghton and Emily Callaghan had selected for their show songs from each of the last 25 years, with at least one song for every year during that period.  There was a personal side to the selection, with many of these songs having provided the soundtrack to Ashleigh and Emily’s youth.  

Entering the auditorium, we saw that the stage featured a large number ‘25’ suspended at the rear, which as the show went on was illuminated in ever-changing colours and sometimes surrounded by lights.  I also really liked the use of monitors to ‘announce’ each song, accompanied by some cute little neon-style illustrations appropriate to each number. 

The show got off to an atmospheric start, as lamps were lit for a Mary Poppins prologue – great timing by the lighting team!  ‘New Money’ from The Great Gatsby then saw the whole ensemble – all 30 of them – giving it both barrels with a great dance routine – nicely in sync despite its complexity.  The ensemble wore largely black outfits decorated with silver sparkly bits, providing for both uniformity and a bit of individuality as to where and how many sparkles were present!

Next up was a nicely catty version of ‘Candy Store’ from Heathers – great work from some of the younger performers - which was cleverly paired with ‘Fine’ from Ordinary Days – some great characterisation and delivery of this witty song, along with good timing and chemistry between the performers.  ‘Screech In’ from Come from Away was next up, allowing the ensemble to return in rowdy form for this entertaining number.  I thought there was good use of the ensemble as ‘stage colour’ throughout – this worked really well to fill up the space on the Henrician stage and helped to generate atmosphere, even if only a small proportion of those on stage were actually singing at any one time.

‘Dear Theodosia’ from Hamilton provided a good contrast and benefitted from a charming performance, this was followed by ‘Angry Dance’ from Billy Elliott, which did exactly what it said on the tin!  ‘The Big Dollhouse’ from Hairspray was well staged to evoke its jail-bound setting, and ‘Moving too Fast’ from The Last Five Years saw a very good vocal and a natural, charismatic performance.  Next up, the dancers got their raunch on with a steamy rendition of ‘Express’ from Burlesque.  There was great dancing throughout the evening from the featured dancers, with members of the ensemble also stepping up to take part in the choreography for the full company numbers.  The fruit of many hours work in the rehearsal room, no doubt! 

The reprise of ‘Mama Who Bore Me’ from Spring Awakening then led into a committed version of ‘This World Will Remember Us’ from Bonnie and Clyde, before the whole cast returned to the stage for ‘The Mad Hatter’ from Wonderland and a full-throttle version of ‘It Works’ from Back to the Future.  I particularly liked the co-ordinated mechanical movements in ‘It Works’ – great work from choreographers Hayley Roberts, Bee Callaghan, Chloe French and Claire Watson, not to mention the whole cast who executed the movements perfectly. 

Into the second half, and the skipping ropes were out for ‘Whipped into Shape’ from Legally Blonde – as always with this song I was amazed at the stamina of the performers!  The emotional reprise of ‘Wait for Me’ from Hadestown followed, and there was some great storytelling on show to tell ‘The Ballad of Sarah Berry’ from 35mm: A Musical Exhibition.  I was really taken by the imaginative choice of songs by the directors, choosing not only songs from less well-known shows but also less well-known songs from the more popular shows.  This was very refreshing, and meant that something unusual was always just around the corner. 

On which point, ‘The Black Death’ from Something Rotten provided great variety and amusement to hear such a grim subject dealt with in such a jaunty way!  ‘Everybody’ from & Juliet provided another change of pace, as did the upbeat ‘Maniac’ from Flashdance, with pastel leg warmers and headbands to the fore in a very energetic appearance by the dancers.  The dramatic ‘March of the Witch Hunters’ from Wicked was then followed by a great performance of ‘Flowers’ from Hadestown – very well sung and accompanied by a sweet dance routine. 

‘Where Do You Belong’ from Mean Girls saw another strong vocal performance, accompanied by a great routine from the whole ensemble – impressive tray work!  The barbed ‘If You Ever See Me Talking To A Sailor’ from The Last Ship was neatly staged, as a variety of deserted women gave vent to their unhappiness, and ‘Sincerely Me’ from Dear Evan Hansen was also very well acted, with great humour, by a trio of singers. 

Effective lighting was an important part of this show, so well done to the lighting designer and operator Steve Calcutt.  Sound was also great throughout – no mean feat with so many performers to manage, so well done also to Ryan Jackson for their efforts.  As the evening began to draw to a close, the work of the Musical Directors to tie things together was evident – congratulations to Paul Collacott, Molly Jewitt, Kaytie Holdstock, and Ashleigh Houghton on a job well done!

The final sequence of the evening began with a great fun version of ‘Creepy Old Guy’ from Beetlejuice – really well performed by the whole cast – before we returned to the world of Back to the Future for ‘Back in Time’, a song which I remember well from the movie version.  That seemed to be it, but thankfully there was time to squeeze in ‘More More More (Encore)’ from Moulin Rouge, a fittingly exuberant ending to the show. 

Phew, what a night!  Congratulations to everyone at EODS for presenting such a great concert, full of vibrant energy, emotion and life.  A fitting tribute to the last 25 years of musicals – here’s to the next 25! 

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