Fame
Information
- Date
- 15th September 2022
- Society
- Colchester Operatic Society
- Venue
- The Mercury Theatre Colchester
- Type of Production
- Musical
- Director
- Charlie Morgan
- Musical Directors
- Richard Harrison, Phil Toms
- Choreographer
- Charlie Morgan
- Stage Manager
- Terry Lyon
I was warmly welcomed at Front of House by Ann Taylor, Chairperson for CO2. She confirmed that all members of the cast were aged between 12 to 20 years old.
From the first number, Hard Work, performed by the full company, this production moved at a furious pace, showing the many talents of this junior company. Without exception, all the lead actors performed at a very high level, both in their acting skills and especially their movement and dancing.
There were some excellent pairings eg Charlie Borg as Nick Plaza and Lily Dickie as Serena Katz who performed I Want To Make Magic and Let's Play A Love Scene with great emotion and feeling. Toby Nee as classical musician Schlomo Metzenbaum and Maddie Hawes, as Carmen Diaz had a wonderful duet of Bring On Tomorrow. Maddie played a very strong role as Carmen, obsessed by her ambition of being famous and led the company in an excellent rendition of There She Goes / Fame.
Bad boy Joe Vegas was played very convincingly by Eddie Thorpe whose singing of Can't Keep It Down was very humorous. Polly Clarke was Iris Kelly and ably displayed her ballet skills. Eve Lloyd, as Mabel Washington,an overweight dancer convinced everyone that she was serious about losing weight until she could no longer resist a sweet dessert. She delivered a poignant song, Mabel's Prayer which was quite emotional. Nicholas McKeown, as Jack Zakowski, had a superb voice, especially in Jack's Rap and Dancing On The Sidewalk . Esme Ball, as Grace “ Lambchops”Lamb and Leo Wiggins, as Goodman “Goody”King played their roles with great enthusiasm and energy.
Maddy Smith, as Head Teacher Miss Esther Sherman was admirable in this role with a rather domineering manner. I loved her powerful and emotive delivery of These Are My Children which was one of the best songs in the production. Fellow teachers in the academy were Connor Sweetman, as Mr Myers, Esther Sweetman as Miss Greta Bell and Isaac Lock as Mr Sheinkopf all of whom interpreted their characters really well.
There was a large ensemble of fellow students who were all on stage for most of the show. They were lively, energetic and appeared to be really enjoying performing.
The choreography (Charlie Morgan)was inspiring and the cast so well rehearsed with no movements out of step. There were a great variety of dance routines, ranging from ballet to Latin American to modern all skilfully performed.
The 8 piece band was most accomplished with the sound level absolutely right. Phil Toms, the Musical Director for the show led and encouraged the performers on stage providing just the required amount of direction. I understand that Richard Harrison who had been Musical Director, stepped down for personal reasons at the end of July and Phil Toms then took over as Musical Director for the remaining rehearsal period and for the show.
The set was quite simple but effective with moveable stairs and other items and props being wheeled in and out seamlessly thanks to Stage Manager Terry Lyon and his team.. Costumes were appropriate to the timeline and mostly sourced locally and effective lighting and sound were deployed.
This was a sparkling performance from a highly talented group of young people all apparently committed to theatre and dance. Congratulations to Charlie Morgan , Director and Choreographer for her vision and ingenuity in developing the production.
And well done to all the young people in the cast and to everyone involved in any way. This was a production of which you can all feel very proud.
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