Back To The 80's

Another one of these American High School musicals, which so suit SIYT and which they are particularly adept at performing. This one was written by Neil Gooding and directed by Elise Davis and Sophie Rogers. It is set in the early noughties and the eighties and tells the story of Corey Palmer looking back at his senior year at William Ocean High School some twenty years earlier; and of course it contains lots of well known hits from the period.

The stage at the Burgess Hall, under the. management of Chloe Rogers is very large and the audience were well set back from it, giving a massive fore stage much needed for a these very large casts and upon which most of the action took place. On the stage itself there were various items of furniture such as a blackboard and a couple of gym style benches, and at one point a star lit background. A couple of extremely well-made trucks were also used; a very clever compact one of Corey’s bedroom at the college and two lines of school lockers, one with a working one, essential to the plot, all built by Andy Davis, Brett Golding, Will Golding and Tom Stewart. With some excellent atmospheric lighting and sound by Will Golding it was impressive and set the scenes perfectly.

Costumes, mostly typical 80’s student ware by Liz Davis, Sarah Johnston, Nicky Smerdon-Goodman and Mary-Anne Howes were particularly standout for the Proms dance.  And who would forget the brilliant Star Wars characters, including a very realistic Darth Vada and light sabres!

Choreography was particularly impressive in this show and had input from five Choreographers, Orla Hilton, Liv Probert, Chloe Rogers, Sophie Rogers and Jasmin Turner, plus five student choreographers, Becca Bateman, Grace Warner, Bella Cox, Florence Golding and Tegan Csepecz-Strong. The net result unsurprisingly was a high class, very well drilled unit with some very complex routines. I was particularly impressed by the confidence shown by the Ensemble, who nailed it to the floor and were thoroughly enjoying themselves with broad smiles all round. A perfect example of what this group is capable of! Great to watch.

The main character in this show is Corey Palmer and he is played by two actors. Corey Sr.  who is our narrator, played by Ben Chapman. Not easy for a teenager to play an older part but Ben was certainly well cast in the role establishing good rapport with the audience. His younger self, Corey Jr was played by Josh Wain who gave us a very angst teenager, trying to fit in with his classmates but mostly ending up disappointed. A lasting image of Corey Jr. sitting on a bicycle looking on dejectedly from afar as the school bully makes off with his girlfriend particularly stands out. His little gang, which helps him plot unsuccessfully for the presidency is made up of Alf Bueller (Max Gilham) and Kirk Keaton (Harry Lee)

The school bully and also the elected president of the Senior year, Michael Feldman, well played by Finn Stewart is outwardly the handsome all-star of the year, but beneath the cool veneer is a much nastier character, who steals Corey’s idea for a charity concert to help him get elected and teases Eileen with a fake love letter in her locker. He surrounds himself with his little gang, Huey (Sebastian Allen), Lionel (Carys Prosser) and Billy (Sam Chapman). Excellent rendition of “Footloose” by the four of them with the chorus.

Becca Bateman, who has particularly standout voice played Tiffany, Corey’s long standing neighbour and the object of his teenage crush. Not surprisingly she has quite a few numbers including: “Girls Just Want to Have Fun” and “Mickey” (both with Cindy Mel and Kim), and “Get into My Car” with Michael.

One of the standout performances has to go to Ollie Smerdon-Goodman as the school nerd, Feargal McFerrin.  Red faced, swept back ginger hair and totally obsessed with computers and totally rejected by his classmates, but carries on regardless with a great aplomb and good stab at “Video Killed The Radio Star.” Nice voice.

Laura Wilde (Tegan Csepecz-Strong) and Debbie Fox (Grace Warner) gave us a wonderful embarrassed scene as Feargal’s team for the election, standing well back, hiding their faces as he makes his pitch for presidency. Highly amusing!

Newcomer to SIYT, Olivia Caballero-Perez took on the role of Cyndi, a bit of a matchmaker and also somewhat mischievous.  Impressive powerful start. Nice voice, definitely one to watch.

Finding actors to play identical twins is not easy but Juliana Harriskitt and Florence Golding as Mel and Kim Easton, Cyndi’s friends from dance school, were an excellent duo, adding a great range to quite few numbers.

The new arrival at William Ocean, Eileen Reagan, played by Grace Crago had that lovely duet with Becca for "Lost in your eyes"; and she took the lead on "Walking on Sunshine" backed by "Laura" and "Debbie"

Sadly, all things come to an end and this year sees the final performances of two stalwarts of SIYT, in Orla Hilton, who gives us a very impressive Mrs Sheena Brannigan, who falls apart when it is revealed she is pictured in a swimsuit in a swimwear catalogue. And NODA Youth Award winner, Charlie Steward as The Principle, Mr Stevie Cocker. Both performances from these two were, as we have come to expect, straight out of the top draw.  Orla has been in six productions for SIYT, and Charlie five.  Also leaving are Larri Rose, the brilliant cook in Cluerdo, and lighting man  William (Will) Golding who has been with SIYT for seven years. I wish them all a great future with whatever direction they take with their stage careers.

This was an excellent production to watch, and for those of us old enough to remember/experience the 80’s first hand the pop cultural references are very clever, from a predicted mobile phone and the internet to a meeting with Bill Gates and Alf Bueller having a day off.

Well done also to featured singers, Natalie Freeman, Matthew Giles, Jasmine Podmore, and the Ensemble: Harry Archontides, Maisy Barnes, Ryan Day, Anya Hobley, Emily Midgley, Polly Richardson, Larri Rose, Jazleen Singh, Michael Tan and Hannah Wilkinson.

I have watched this group over the past couple of years and they have some highly talented actors, who could hold their own on any professional stage.  They are a prime force in youth theatre and a great feeder to adult groups in the area and no doubt much further afield.

So well done to Elsie Davis and Sophie Rogers, their cast and crew on a thoroughly entertaining show from beginning to end.

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