Best of British

This fund raising concert featured an interesting selection of songs, most were perfectly suited to the performer’s abilities but I did feel that one or two were rather odd choices for the age group of the majority of the audience. This was manifest when, in the second half, the songs were more recognisable. The audience were clearly enjoying it more and many were singing along, albeit sotto voce.
There seemed to be rather a lot of songs from the pop charts, many of which did not entertain in the true sense. Some of the performers did not engage the audience and they seemed to be singing the song for their own personal entertainment. They were, in the main, well performed but I felt that the audience were not carried along with the performers.
It was lovely to see dancers accompanying some of the singers but why did they all have to wear black? Costumes are a very important part of any show whether it is panto, a musical or a concert and, whilst some numbers were well costumed, others looked as though the performer had thrown on the first thing in their wardrobe. This spoilt the visual impact of some songs which was a great pity.
There seemed to be a few issues with microphones, especially at the start of the concert as we missed many of the individual lines when the mics seemed not to be turned on. I also felt that, in some songs, more reverb would have enhanced the performance. Sound is a very tricky thing to get right and with only the one technical rehearsal I can understand that it may not go according to plan. Problem is with only one performance it needs to be right first time!
I would recommend that, for future concerts, the stage is not blacked out between songs. It should not be difficult to segue from one song to the next and would help the show to flow. There was up to 20 seconds of blackout between some numbers which just left the audience wondering what came next. Preparing a programme for a compilation show like this is a skill; it should be more than just a string of songs and dances.
I would commend many of the performers who smiled their way through their numbers but there were a lot of glum faces at some points in the show which did detract from the entertainment value. In fact the only time the whole company smiled was in the finale!
Finally I must mention the children, all of whom sang out with great energy and it is a pleasure to see a society encouraging their younger members to be on stage.
Having said all that, I enjoyed the afternoon’s entertainment and I am sure it raised a nice sum for the society and for their chosen charity. I would like to express my thanks to the society for their hospitality, many of the officers came over to speak to us which does not always happen and we were made to feel most welcome.

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