A Chorus Line

Very few societies attempt this show as it is a hard to stage with pretty much every member of the cast needing to have the triple threat of Musical Theatre with acting, singing and dancing skills. Hyde Musical Society must be congratulated on fantastic casting, superb choreography which was so well drilled, fantastic voices and harmonies and emotional acting and direction.

The set is simple with mirrors which turn for certain scenes, great lighting (there was a trip on the night I was in but the lighting and stage team worked quickly to put this right), fantastic sound especially as the band are placed upstairs and costumes suiting each character. The final costumes were beautiful and a big well done to the costume team for the quick change needed for all the cast.

The cast were amazing. Each filled their parts beautifully. It will be impossible to mention everyone here but believe me when I say that I thoroughly enjoyed every performance and the company numbers sounded and looked stunning.

David Noble led the cast playing Zach the director. This role is difficult as it’s played from the audience. Every line of dialogue had perfect diction and strong emotional commitment and I totally believed his story. A fantastic performance. Wendy Jack supported him well as his dance captain and looked clean and strong in her dance  moves.

Tom Davison, Karl Dyson, Dan Grant and Lee Mottershead acted their monologues with style and conviction.

Brooke Lyn Mottershead and Megan Ormiston sounded fabulous on “At the Ballet” and Beatrice Hewett Lee and Ella Kay were both very funny in their roles, delivering their lines with great comic timing.

I loved Molly Mae France and Nick Ward as the married couple and both actors vocals blended well together on the difficult “Sing”. Nick sounded great on “Gimme the Ball” too. George Griffiths delivered a great routine and vocals on “I Can Do That” as did Pamela Syme on “Dance Ten, Looks Three”.

Julie Proffitt put in a sterling performance as Sheila and never dropped her character, snarling at other dancers and flirting with Zach. Fantastic vocals on “At the Ballet“ too.

Mary Platts sounded great as Morales on “Nothing” and What I Did For Love” and looked stunning in her dance moves with every line clean and executed beautifully.

Alexandra Howarth was everything I wanted from Cassie. A gorgeous dancer, strong wonderful vocals and fiery and independent in her relationship with Zach this was a well characterised performance and left me breathless in her solo “ The Music and the Mirror” as it was so beautifully portrayed.

For me the performance of the show went to Paul Hodgkinson with the notoriously difficult 4 page monologue as Paul San Marco. Vocally he sounded great, his dance moves looked so effective but the monologue was so sensitively delivered and I sobbed as he did. I have seen this over and under played before but this was absolutely spot on. The whole audience was transfixed and Paul had them in the palm of his hand. Right from the beginning of the show Paul never dropped his character and for those who have never seen the show before the build up to his story was always there.

A huge well done to every member of the cast and creative team on producing a truly stunning show.

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