A Century of Song

To celebrate the end of their centenary year Poole and Parkstone Productions return to Poole Lighthouse Theatre with one of their legendary Autumn Concerts, with three performances at Two, Five and Eight.

With a full dress rehearsal and two shows under their belt one may expect that energy levels of the cast would have been dropping for the final performance of the day, but if they were, it was certainly not apparent to the very responsive and enthusiastic audience.   

This was P&P at their very best, with a cast of over one hundred, including about forty children, this was a fast moving high energy production, reprising many of their favourite and popular musical numbers from the previous concerts and shows.  From Oklahoma through to The Greatest Showman, each of the thirty plus musical numbers was well performed, the choreography was excellent, well suited to the varying abilities and ages, of the large cast.    I thought that the costumes throughout looked wonderful, and the finale with its vast array of different costumes looked very impressive.

My favourite numbers were, The Colors Of My Life, Fish and Chips, Big Spender. I Dreamed a Dream, Once We Were Kings, 5 Guys Named Mo, Step in Time, Divas Lament and The Greatest Showman Melody.

The musical arrangements’ sounded so good that I did begin to wonder how many musicians were in the orchestra pit. I actually asked at the interval who the excellent Tuba player was, only to be told it was a keyboard that produced the wonderful sound.

The compere for the evening was company stalwart and life member, Chris Burdon, who gave us a brief history of the company which linked all the show together. He also managed to slot himself into a few of the big company numbers, and he was the excellent soloist in the energetic Fish and Chips routine. 

I spoke to several of the cast in the bar after the show and they were all absolutely exhausted after being at the theatre in excess of twelve hours, but it was not going to stop many of them partying until the early hours.

Well done to each and every one.

 

 

 

 

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