A Holly Jolly Christmas

I had the pleasure of attending a Christmas concert on behalf of Ian Thomson at the Oldbury Rep, who presented ‘A Holly Jolly Christmas’ in their packed intimate studio theatre, adorned with tables for the audience to sit at and Christmas decorations. The cast of 13 were presented on raised platforms and sensitively accompanied by John Barber on electronic organ and Kevin Jones on guitar/ violin & chjon.

Initially the cast mingled amongst the audience singing the title song and Ian Thompson introduced the performance. Following ‘We Need a Little Christmas’, ‘12 Days of Christmas’ was more about the shopping days to Christmas, than the traditional version and the company then sang ‘Sparklejollytwinklejingley’ from Elf the musical. Frog and Toad (Ian Thomson and Tim Ward) told us it was ‘Merry Almost Christmas’. We were all then invited to join in with ‘Here Comes Santa Claus’, which was fun.

Next up, a song from The Muppet Christmas Carol (‘It feels like Christmas’) and then ‘Hard Candy Christmas’ from The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas, one of my favourite musicals! We were then taken back to 1944, when Jean played well by Ezme-Jean Forbes-Moore spoke of how Christmas was, aged 14 with her mum, auntie Vi (Michelle Forbes) and nan, but missing her dad and also her uncle.  This and later, two other parts well written by Pete Corser, were very poignant; Jean played by Natalie Forbes-Moore aged 44 and then by Anita Peakman aged 74.  

‘Grandma Got Run over by a Reindeer’ was very funny and Diane Blount sang ‘Kid at Christmas’ with great feeling.  Ezme returned singing ‘I want a hippopotamus for Christmas’ instead of typical toys and ‘Turkey Lurky Time’ was sung well by three singers (Michele Forbes, Eve Pitt and Natalie Forbes-Moore)  with some stylised movement. I really enjoyed ‘The 12 Pains of Christmas’ which was really funny. The good numbers continued;’ When Christmas comes to Town’, ‘Santa Baby’, plus Mike Hadley’s strong dulcet tones in ‘Thank you very much’ from Scrooge. Meanwhile Ian advised us ‘It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas’ and we all sang along to ‘Winter Wonderland’ to close Act 1.

By mentioning most of the numbers which provided such variety, I feel I might be giving away a few Oldbury secrets, but Act 2 provided more, including the company singing ‘Rocking Around the Christmas Tree’. There was another absorbing sketch around the mystery of the missing music box, a few more carols to join in with and a very nice number ‘Have yourself a Merry little Christmas’ sung by Eve Pitt. Naturally we all joined in the finale with ‘White Christmas’, rounding off a great evening’s entertainment. I should mention a first for Olbury Rep – Ezme was one of three generations appearing together which was really good to see.

Director Sandra Bird and her production team had blended together a range of old and new items which couldn’t fail to put everyone in the mood for Christmas and I would like to congratulate all involved and add my thanks for the warm welcome I received throughout the evening.

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