Frank Wildnorn & Jule Styne Concert

For the current period of study Wildhorn and Styne were the chosen composers and another well- crafted concert was prepared with just six rehearsals, directed by Richard Taylor, musical direction by Stephen Watkins and choreography by Britt Needham.

I attended the first performance of two and should mention that for some numbers, the soloist work was shared and therefore this review reflects just those I watched which totalled over 20 out of total company of 29, therefore it becomes difficult to comment on all.

Part 1 opened with a strong and stirring version of Wildhorn & Murphy’s ‘Welcome to Wonderland’, led for the opening performance by Charlotte Fensom. This was followed by a sequence from Funny Girl and a sensitive rendition of ‘People’ by Issy Davies. Kaitlyn Norwood sang ‘Don’t Rain on My Parade ‘well, with a fantastic final note. I really liked Sylvie Symons version of ‘When I look at You (Pimpernel)’ which was sung with great feeling. The next section from Dracula included ‘Please Don’t Make Me Love You’ sung by Clara Davies with great depth of feeling and Niamh Thomas’ very wordy number ‘If You Hadn’t But you Did’ was funny and very well handled.

From Jekyll & Hyde, Ellie Morris sang ‘Someone Like You’ well and ‘In His Eyes’ sang by Amelie Prewer-Jenkinson and Megan Jones was portrayed with great heart. Molly Hill and Will McCrea led the company in a super ‘Dangerous Game’ and Sophie Rowberry plus company concluded Part 1 strongly, with ‘Mad Hatter’ (Wonderland).

Amongst some more good numbers in Part 2, Jess Young, sang ‘Make Someone Happy’ well and Sam Nield and Robyn McCollum were excellent with ‘The World will Remember Us’ from Bonnie & Clyde. Will McCrea and Ella Cain opened a bright and breezy section from Bells are Ringing with ‘Just in Time’ and Morgan Wolseley-Charles and Rosa Savage provided great personality in ‘All I Need Is The Girl’ from Gypsy, before the company closed the concert with ‘Together Wherever We Go’.

Whilst I have not mentioned everyone, everyone was totally committed in their performance and it was obvious the hard work that had been involved. Congratulations to all.

 

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