Encore 4

“Encore 4” is a Revue that included  36 songs from 36 different musicals and films such as “Phantom of the Opera”, “Moulin Rouge”, “The  Addams Family”, “Wicked”, “Frozen”, “Ghost”, “Dream Girls” and “The Book of Mormon” to name but a few. Directed by Diane Simmons and Jackie Doherty this was another excellent production from Adlington Music and Arts Society which more than reached their usual very high standards of performance.
 
On entering the auditorium the first thing the audience saw was the bow of a very impressive large ship covering the whole of the front of the stage. The ship was namely the pirate ship the “Black Pearl” from Disney's “Pirates of the Caribbean”. However when the show began the ship opened up to reveal the stage area which represented the deck of the ghostly pirate ship which was the setting for the first half of the show. Costumes for this half were excellent, striking and very innovative, the theme being Gothic, Vampires and Ghosts, and each member of the cast had a different costume. Whereas the second half of the show was Post Modernistic set around the concrete jungle of the big city and the archetypal office worker. Costumes again were very effective and were in marked contrast to the first half as the cast were dressed in the stereotypical office uniform of suits with shirts and ties the colour being black or grey with the exception of Mrs Overall and her rubber gloves. Congratulations must go to wardrobe Helen Dickinson and Jackie Doherty

It would be remiss and hard for me to single out just a few specific performances as all the soloists were impressive singing really well producing excellent interpretations and renditions of the numbers on offer. The cast all worked as a team with no weak links and each musical number was performed with confidence, energy and enthusiasm, all member of the cast appeared to know exactly what they were doing, and the pace of the show was spot on maintaining the audience’s attention at all times. Choreography by Diane Simmons and Jackie Doherty with guest choreographers Heather Hodgson, Christian Brabin, Anthony Williams and Katie Wood was innovative as well as exiting and was executed superbly by the cast.
Backing tracks were used to accompany the numbers and all were played at just the right level. I must also congratulate Chorus Master Louisa Watson on the outstanding quality of the singing.

Staging, lighting and sound were all excellent, well done to the stage manager Stephen Pilkington, set builders, technical crew and everyone who was part of the backstage crew.

This was a very enjoyable outstanding production I must congratulate all the cast and everyone involved including front of house and last but not least the two directors Diane Simmons and Jackie Doherty, thank you for inviting us my friend and I had a great evening I hope to see you for your next production.

© NODA CIO. All rights reserved.