Christmas Spectacular

For a great evening’s entertainment prior to Christmas at No.8 Pershore, it was very well worth a trip to PODS Christmas Spectacular with no less than 43 items of music, dance and amusing sketches and a total cast of 60. After an opening company number dressed in sparkling green costumes and a warm welcome from David Hemming, the stage was set for an evening of variety directed by Judy Megarry with Andrew Hemming and his MD’s baton, plus a variety of numbers from 7 choreographers.

‘Sparklejollytwinklejingley’ from Elf the Musical, was led with strength by Owen Roberts, with Hannah Eakins, Tim Shackley and the Company and this was followed by the very nice melodic voice of Briony Stevens with ‘Once Upon a December’ from Anastasia, accompanied by Connor Holman. Susan Perry, Sue Poultney and Suzie Tapley then provided an amusing sketch when the story of Snow White was given a politically correct language make-over in ‘A Pantomime for the Modern Age’ – actually a scary thought that traditional stories could move in that direction!

‘Dream of Christmas’ involved the dancers dressed in white with red trim and it was good to see   Leila Parker en pointe and three good male dancers (Connor Holman, George Organ and Owen Roberts). I particularly enjoyed ‘Mary, Did You know’ acapella and ‘The Perfect Year’ sung by Judy Megarry and David Hemming with great feeling.  ‘All Alone on Christmas’ was led in great voice by Kiaragh Brown, and Steve Miller and Paul Tapley sang ‘The Little Drummer Boy’ – a number of great qualities. There was some nice harmony in ‘Hey Mr Snowman’ led by Hannah Bengough, with Sarah Stanley, Suzie Tapley and Julie Parker. ‘A Yorkshire Nativity’ that followed, was great fun. Steve Miller sang ‘Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas’ well, and ‘Joyful, Joyful’ led by Freya  Kirby and the Company was literally joyful. The final number of Act 1 ‘Christmas Medley’ was an extravaganza of individual costumes at which the company were having a great party. 

The beginning of Act 2 was the moment for involving all 60 performers at the Wassail. The Company were smartly dressed in black, with red ties for the gentlemen and red corsages for the ladies, all backed by a star cloth, providing a magical scene. ‘Catch a Snowflake’ was uplifting, an alternative ‘12 Days of Christmas’ was very funny, ‘Follow That Star’ was a good number, but perhaps the wow number of the evening for me was the Company number ‘Bethlehem’, which raised the roof!

Later Suzie Tapley sang an impressive ‘Nella Fantasia’ and ‘Underneath The Tree’ looked very effective with snow falling on stage accompanied by a suitable moving projection rear stage. Tim Shackley and the Company with a signed version of ‘Merry Christmas’ and ‘Blue Christmas’ sung by Paul Tapley with Sam Godber, Pete Hallett, Lindsey Kirby and Rachel Sampson were very good. ‘A hand For Mrs. Claus’ was in the capable hands of two good singers Kiaragh Brown and Freya Kirby and ‘Hallelujah’ sung by Andrew Hemming, David Hemming, James Megarry, Steven Miller and Paul Tapley with a single piano accompaniment (and effective dry ice) was excellent. Tessa Sheehy led ‘Don’t Save It All For Christmas Day’ with great strength and the last four numbers of the show bringing it to a close that followed, were equally as good.

The open set with raised rear platform and a large number of effective projections added to the atmosphere, but I must give a special mention to the Wardrobe Team who provided the cast with some superb costumes numbering no less than around 500. Next year PODS will celebrate 35 years of performing and I look forward to ‘Priscilla Queen of the Desert’, the Musical in June.

© NODA CIO. All rights reserved.