A Musical Extravaganza

It was my pleasure to be asked to cover for a colleague for Riverside Musical Theatre Company’s presentation of “A Musical Extravaganza”, who’ve recently rejoined us back into the NODA family.  Welcome back you fabulous people!

There was a lovely casual but warm welcome in a cabaret setting at the Garden Farm, Chester le Street where a small stage awaited which surprisingly held the huge cast on stage, they just kept coming!  So many people, having fun, enjoying themselves and performing for a grateful and receptive audience.  Thank you, we all enjoyed ourselves immensely.

We heard songs from the shows in Act 1 then a varied selection of Christmas music in Act 2.  All of which were performed with big smiles and a whole load of fun, all that matters!  Compere Kenny Toale kept the pace gong extremely well, he knows his stuff, and ensured audience participation throughout – even tricking us all into a sneaky standing ovation photograph!

It’s hard in concerts to highlight singular performers at the best of times and Riverside made it even more difficult by all performers being strong, confident and a pleasure to watch.  There was some lovely choreography by Julie L Laws and Steph Corbett, and the music was led by Suzy Wake.  There was lots of energy from well known numbers such as Six, Abba, Shrek, Les Mis, and Rent to name but a few with the youth joining the group for the likes of Matilda and Sound of Music.  A truly gorgeous number we heard was “She Used to Be Mine” performed by Wendy Hindmarch.  The second act was a selection of Christmas themed songs, some lesser known to me especially those from Scrooge which I'd definitely not come across before.  All in all a lovely night celebrating our passion for the Arts.

Sorry I had to dash off quickly afterwards and was unable to see or speak to the cast, very busy few weeks for me!  I thoroughly enjoyed the evening, well done to you all and roll on “Curtains” in 2024.

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