Accolade

This was a brand new musical and Blackmore Players are to be commended for giving it the chance to be performed.  The story was simple but effective and the cast worked hard to give the show a good airing.  It had an air of  ‘The Hotel Inspector’ television programme about it and it might be a good idea for this theme to be developed a bit more if the show is to have ‘legs’.

Unfortunately, as is often the case with new shows, it would benefit from being performed a few more times to allow for audience reactions to be factored into the equation.  I wasn’t sure whether it was supposed to be a serious story or a comedy at first.  It was when Joan, played by Barbara Harrold, sang ‘Paint’ that I felt more comfortable with the genre.

The music was simple but I felt it did not actually flow with the show. In other words, everything stopped for a musical number and then carried on afterwards.  The real skill in writing a musical is that the songs appear to be seamless with the action and I am afraid this was not really in evidence.  Having said that, the cast did sing their hearts out, to give the music a fair chance.  Although there were occasions when it was obvious that chorus members had been brought on to boost the sound, without any real reason for being there.  It might have been better if they had sung from the wings, with just as much effect.

Sandra Trott played the lead role of Anna, waitress turned hotel manager, although the transition from one to the other was rather brief and unlikely!  Sandra has good stage presence and a nice voice, although she was a bit tentative with some of the singing.  The aforementioned Barbara Harrold played the co-conspirator Joan with some nice touches and her comedic performance in ‘Paint’ was delightful. Other principal parts were played by Martin Herford (Mike the hotel owner) Rebecca Smith (Isabelle, Mike’s daughter) Keith Goody (Sam the Painter) with some more nice comedic touches.  It was a relatively small cast, requiring the ensemble actors to double and even treble up on parts.  That’s not a bad thing and the costume and characterisation was well defined for each character.

The scenery was well thought out and the changes were well executed.   Although I do think that the wedding room might have been a bit more ‘dressed up’.   it was clear that thought had been given to scene changes and that is often not the case in more established musicals!  Costumes were appropriate to the action and the lighting was well executed too.

It is a shame that the songs were not listed in the programme but it allows me to make a point, apart from Paint which was memorable, I am hard pushed to remember any of the other songs in the show.  I think this could have made an effective play and that, in the main, the music was not sufficiently incorporated in the dialogue and action.

However the audience seemed to enjoy the performance and that is the most important thing.

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