A Journey Through the Years

Thank you for such a warm welcome to SADOS Variety show ‘A Journey Through the Years’ on 1st September 2022

An eager audience gathered, and the show opened with ‘Singing in the Rain’ with the whole company dancing, singing and with umbrella-ography. A great number to start the show.  Jane Moss was our compare for the evening and welcomed Koren Little singing ‘Moon River, Bev Moore singing ‘Crazy’ and a very well received Charlie Russell singing ‘Twist and Shout’, all fabulous performances and had everyone singing along.  Next up was the Parrot Sketch from Monty Python.  Richard Slade and Koren Little act was well paced, and both really performed well.

The Spamalot number was a very funny with Geran Jackson & Dominique Spinks, both had excellent diction and powerful comedic performances in this complicated song. Next Bev sang another lovely song, ‘Close To You’ followed by a group number ‘You Are My Sunshine’ with really good choreography.

‘Gethsemane’- sung by Geran Jackson was particularly moving and was a very strong item. A new face Becky Jones sang ‘Hopelessly Devoted’ from Grease followed by a group number ‘Night Fever’, which had us clapping along.

A very funny number sung by Matilda with Charlie Russell and Lauren Bullock, bringing a tremendously involved bit of action which had us laughing along with ‘Total Eclipse of the Heart’. Geran Jackson sang ‘Stars’ which was followed by a group medley from Abba. Jane Moss as compare explained the decades represented were from Queen Elizabeth's reign. The first act covering 1950’s, 60’s and 70’s. I thought there were really great choices and utilising the skills of the talented group from SADOS.

In the second act Charlie and Dominique sang ‘Therapy’. A great dance number of ‘Tragedy’ - Geran, Charlie, Becky, Dominique and Lauren was followed by a song from ‘Rent’ sung by Lauren Lee. The next 3 powerful performances were Dominique singing a big number from Miss Saigon and the whole group singing ‘Hello’ and then Becky Jones blew us away with ‘Wizard and I’.

Freedom Road – sung by Matilda was warm and dramatic and then Charlie bounced back on to the stage with his guitar for ‘We Will Rock You’ with a choreographed group getting the whole audience stamping and clapping along.  ‘Waving Through a Window’ was beautifully sung by Lauren Lee and then we were treated to Koren singing ‘Breathe’. Which were both lovely.

‘Six’ with Lauren, Koren, Dominique, Della, Matilda and Lauren (B) was the highlight of the evening for me, well performed, excellent choreography and each character well portrayed through the voices onstage. Then ‘She Used To Be Mine’ from The Waitress was beautifully sung by Dominique, excellent diction and voice emoting the tragic theme of the song.

Another sketch about Covid this time, performed by Jane and Bev, very funny and showed excellent comic timing.  Charlie sung one of his own songs ‘Someone’ then the whole cast joined together to sing The Greatest Show. What a powerful way to end the show.

Sophie Gale on sound had her work cut out for her, some odd balance issues and a few microphones let you down, but nothing detracted from the performances.  There was also Steven front of house and Jane, Bev et al serving refreshments in the interval. Village Halls are notorious for not having enough lighting for a full stage production, yet you made do with what you had and nothing detracted from the fine performances.

It might have been nice to have a program so we could see which shows the songs came from, although Jane did a great job introducing them. It would have been especially good to announce the exclusive items, like Charlie singing his own song. I would have liked a few more smiles on occasions, even singing a sad song, I feel a smile and a bow as you go off, would have created a more rounded performance from everyone.   Acknowledging the audience and trying to create a connection with them is a skill I am sure you will all work on for the next variety show.  I feel Dominique, Geran and Charlie could give others some tips as they all developed a repour with their audiences.  On a final note, some practice with mics, would improve the sound quality, another skill which I am sure you will all work on.

All in all, a very good, diverse show, with items from across the 70 years of the Queens Reign, I thoroughly enjoyed the evening and went home singing the songs. It was great to welcome some new faces and to see some familiar members too. There was a good mixture of songs and sketches which kept the audience’s attention throughout. Well done all, I know it takes a lot to put this sort of show together from scratch and with the very short lead in times, I was really impressed.

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