Crescendo!

The setting for the concert had steps right across the back of the stage with a small band seated behind them and a large projection screen on the back wall. It is very difficult to isolate a Director etc. for the company as they have worked in teams but, after consultation, the names of the main ones have been given to me. The Seniors opened the concert with ‘One’ from A Chorus Line and what a super number it was, so well sung with excellent choreography from Lucy Hassall. The men were dressed in black with vibrant pink ties and the ladies were also in black with pink corsages. A great rendition of ‘Reach’ by Belper’s very own ‘Four Tops’ came from Ben Thompson, Dale Hind, Jake Elyes and Sam Varney. The Juniors had two numbers in this half, and both were just brilliant. Firstly was ‘Fearless’ from Mean Girls and later a very lively Medley from Disney’s Teen Beach Movie both being choreographed by Sharon & Danni Stringer. The singing by the soloists in both numbers was fantastic, as was that by the ‘ensemble’, and the accompanying super dance routines were just delightful all being so well executed, even by the tiniest of children. They were extremely well attired in black tops and different brightly coloured skirts and/or trousers. Two excellent solo items came from Cat Howourth who beautifully sang ‘The History of Wrong Guys’ from Kinky Boots and from Lucy Hassall who so exquisitely and movingly sung ‘Memory’ from Cats. Sarah Stone splendidly brought out the comedy in ‘To Keep My Love Alive’ from The Connecticut Yankee with the help of several men who so dramatically met their demise at her hands. The Duet ‘You Shine’ from Carrie was well delivered by Dominic Osin and Abbie Rowan as was ‘Tell Me It’s Not True’ from Blood Bothers by Matthew Shaw and Gavin Brookes’. Never Ending Story’ from Stranger Things with soloists Jan Outram and Elizabeth Brookes along with the Ensemble was another fine interpretation. ‘I Put a Spell on You’ from Hocus Pocus was enchanting with Alison Walker, Jan Outram, Jess Fernie and Sydney Hemstock fronting the Ladies (Choreography by Becky Pearcy). Not to be outdone, this was followed by Peter Bostock wonderfully fronting the men in a great number ‘Uptown Girl’ by Billy Joel (Choreography by Megan Gibson). The first half closed with a medley from South Pacific (Choreographed by Katy Varney). This was first-class with soloists Alison Walker, Katy Varney, Matthew Shaw and Morgan Hemstock excelling in the singing with terrific backing coming from the ensemble. What a simply fabulous number by the Seniors opened the second half. It was a medley from Rocketman/Elton John. The choreography was by Cat Howourth and the super soloists were Dominic Osin, Gavin Brookes, Morgan Hemstock and Peter Bostock. The Juniors followed this with another glorious number, ‘Whistle Down The Wind’. It was extremely well sung with a precise and lovely accompanying dance routine. In this half of the programme there were some extremely top-notch solo performances by Cat Howourth, Jess Dolman, Sarah Jackson, Tasha Barney, Jess Dolman and Danni Stringer but I feel to comment on each individual item I am just going to be repeating myself with appropriate superlative comments as all of these numbers were so meaningful and powerfully delivered. I will just mention, however, the trio of Jen Lewis, Liz Brookes and Sarah Stone that outstandingly sang ‘Speechless’ from Disney’s Aladdin. I loved the two numbers from Barbie (The Movie). Firstly, the Ladies sang (in front of the Main Curtains) ‘What Was I Made For’ after which the curtains opened to reveal the Men, on different levels of the steps, singing ‘I’m Just Ken’. They then moved down-stage performing very ‘modern’ dance manoeuvres including a cartwheel and ‘the worm’ - it was a truly superb number choreographed by Megan Gibson. The stunning final number was Pink’s ‘What About Us’ (choreographed by Sarah Stone and Jen Lewis). It brought the whole company together and we had most definitely reached the ‘Crescendo!’. 

The whole concert was so well conceived, so polished and so excellently executed. The superb singing and the splendid dance and movement routines from everyone involved clearly indicated that a terrific amount of hard work had been undertaken. It was further enhanced by the wonderful back projections, which highlighted each individual item, from some very atmospheric lighting and of course from the super four-piece band. Many congratulations to the Production Team for the Seniors - Sarah Stone, Jen Lewis, Elizabeth Brookes, Richard Hodges and Jess Dolman to the Junior Production Team - Stacey Hyndman, Jen Lewis, Sharon Stringer, Danni Stringer, Abbie Rowan, Rob Mosley supported by Ben Ward and Jess Dolman, to the Backstage Crew, to the Band and of course to the very talented performers. I do hope that I got all the names right for the Seniors, as only Christian names were attributed to the various items. (Full names were given as a list in the programme but just Christian names for the Juniors and no soloists were indicated for their items). Lastly, my thanks for the most welcoming hospitality that I received.

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