BROADWAY The HATS WAY

HATS and HATS Youth Theatre put on a slick Broadway spectacular with a cast of 38 members at Bolton Little Theatre. Directors Lorraine Brown, Matthew Kellie and Gemma Marr certainly gave us talent showcase. The numbers flowed into each other with the majority of the cast moving blocks on a simple but effective set. With atmospheric lighting and gobos used. Sound and Lighting Ashley Foster and Assistant Katie Crossley. Stage Manager Ian Brown and Crew Nathan Kellie and Sharon Kellie. The choreography was slick by Craig Booth, Lorraine Brown, Paige Burgess, Katie Davies, Gemma Marr and Lois Squires. George Baldwin took us on a journey through the musicals with ease.

The evening was set out with upbeat moments and then taking us into the world of the musicals with a more lyrical song. With a cast of 38 this is no mean feat and I cannot mention everyone but just to pull a few out.

Seth Holbert in Freeze Your Brain from the Heathers gave a great character and energy. Eadie Gosling gave us a powerful performance of Anastasia from In My Dreams. The youth ensemble When I Gow Up from Matilda had some lovely harmonies and I enjoyed the energy in Revolting Children. Again, great energy coming from the stage in Footloose with the ensemble. Jennifer Hubbard, Eadie Gosling, Stephanie Kay, Joanna Robinson. Hannah Ward and Alice Scofield giving us attitude and sass in Ex-Wives from Six. Finishing ACT I was the ensemble with The Sparkling Diamond from Moulin Rouge. Just Wow.

Ryan Stanton and ensemble treated to us a slick number On Lexington and 52nd Street. History Is Made At Night with Ryan Stanton. Hannah Ward, Oliver Wood and Jessica Sullivan gave us the sexy number. Hayley Seal singing With You from Ghost was truly beautiful and drew us in. The Newsies section was great with Ebony Williams giving us Watch What Happens, and the youth Ensemble Seize The Day with great choreography. Fabulous. Ryan Stanton then added a bit of comedy to sing You’ll Be Back from Hamilton and worked the audience.  Francesca Robinson then performed Castle On A Cloud with purity from Les Mis’. We were then entertained by Jennifer Hubbard singing Proud Mary from Tina Turner.

Clearly a lot of work had gone into making this large cast come together and its lovely to see the youth joining in and making a valid contribution. It was evident that everyone was having a great time on stage. Congratulations.  Thank you so much for the invite and hospitality from my guest Ursula and I.

 

Liz Hume-Dawson

District 5 Rep

‘Theatre allows us to escape reality’.

 

© NODA CIO. All rights reserved.