Carousel

Performing on a school hall stage can be a problem for some societies but when you have an imaginative director who designed the set for this show it does make life much easier and also lends to a better show, it was great to see the raised level being used to such a good degree which added to the already good performances from the whole cast.

Carousel calls for a strong leading man and in this one we had just that in the guise of Dale Vaughan as Billy Bigalow, he was able to deliver his lines perfectly as well as the songs, Dale also delivered the soliloquy with ease. Dale was partnered with Vikki Vaughan who played Julie Jordan to perfection; she was able to deliver the songs and her lines with a meaningful attitude which the audience loved.

The other partnership is of course Carrie Pipperidge played by Clare Heins and Enoch Snow played by Richard Goodall, both gave very convincing performances and worked well together, I especially enjoyed Richard’s singing and his nervous laugh which he did when his character became a little embarrassed.

There was also a fine performance from Phil Clarkson as Jigger Craigin, his smoldering looks and gruff voice was a perfect combination for this part, especially in his scene with Carrie when he was teaching her how to defend herself.

Praise must be given to the dancers in the beach ballet, this can sometimes be a little long and tedious but not so in this case when they entered the stage from under the higher level which lent itself to a raised walkway on the beach.

One of the highlights of this show is of course “You’ll never walk Alone” and this was delivered  excellently by Rebecca Atha as Nettie Fowler, she was able to provide a good support to Julie after the death of Billy and almost brought the house down when she sang this song.

The backing for this show was provided by a nine piece strong orchestra, having such a large backing can in some cases can be a little over powering for audiences trying to hear the singing on stage, this was not the case here and it was good to have one which actually accompanied the singers, rather than drowning them out, and also deliver a great sound.

Congratulations to all involved in this production.

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