Brodie! The Musical

Developing from a small group of keen actors in St Philips church in 1969 to this most accomplished and larger Portobello and Joppa Parish Church Drama Group of today it seems fairly fitiing that to celebrate their 50th anniversary the group chose to present ‘Brodie! The Musical’ written in 1996 by two of it’s members.

This musical set in 18th century Edinburgh was written for the company by Gavin Booth with original music by the company’s musical director Nancy Kent. According to Gavin “ it was written for a group in which there are ‘no stars’ and which always tries to choose shows which give the chorus lots to do!”. Well this fantastic musical certainly fulfiils that giving the chorus lots to do but I would say that there was a galaxy of stars on that stage.

With 25 named characters plus a few townspeople and 6 children it would be true to say that every person on stage had a significant role and was a believable character whether a stalwart of society, a mistress, a rogue or a lady of the night. The script tells the true story of Deacon William Brodie, an upright citizen by day but yet a rogue, thief and philanderer. Not an easy part to play and whilst I am reluctant to single out individual performances in such a large, strong cast, credit must be given to Willie French who portrayed the different sides to Brodie’s character most admirably through both dialogue and song.

There is a huge amount of humour in the script which had been updated slightly (who knows we might have a woman prime minister some day) and this came over very well indeed by all the characters especially Brodie’s gang who were almost panto like in the scenes planning their crimes. The differentiation between the Old and New Town residents was well depicted not only by their contrasing poor and lavish costumes but by their attitude, speech and mannerisms. As well as humour, there were some serious moments throughout with unrequited love and the final demise of Brodie.

Much of the fun, humour and pathos was conveyed through the music and songs. There is so much variety in this score - lilting Scottish music, beautiful ballads, jazz and calypso style music. The songs and orchestrations evoked feelings through the emotion of the performers. The rousing opening ‘Where’s Brodie’, ’Suspicions’ and ‘Wha’s Like Us’ showed the strength and vitality of the chorus compared with the stillness in ‘Brodies Death Music’ which demonstrated wonderful harmonious singing. Fun numbers ‘Ghosts’ and ‘They Tell Me’ contrasted so well with the heart rendering ‘Why Not Me’ and ‘If You Ever Need Me’. I really believed that Brodie’s mistresses wanted to be with him in their haunting duet.

Very clever use was made of back projection setting the various scenes whether in the High Street, Kirk Yard or the Tavern which had a real 3-dimensional feeling. The continuity of scene changes in this way was most effective and allowed for better use of the small stage.The story is linked by a narrator/barmaid Effie and I must say Katie Bell’s narration was animated and crystal clear as was her number ‘Get Out While You Can’. The narrator pulling the front gauze across for scene changes also worked well.

This was an extremely well directed production both musically and in the staging, The use of a lower playing area and the auditorium as well as the stage gave scope for lots of action and variety in pace.

I am always impressed by this company with so many talented individuals and an ensemble whose choral singing is excellent. There is real team work and cameraderie here. It is always refreshing to see something new and inspiring and this was certainly the case with this production. I applaud the company’s achievements over the past 50 years and hope that they will continue to grow in future years. Thanks you so much for a thoroughly enjoyable evenings entertainment.

 

 

 

 

 

 

© NODA CIO. All rights reserved.