Golden Days Concert

Set in one of the most beautiful Churches in the North East: St Paul’s was the venue for Spennymoor Stage and Songs 2019 concert and what an evening of pure Golden delight as the cast took the audience down memory lane performing 24 songs from some of the biggest musicals to hit the West End and Broadway. Under the Direction of Karen Butler who perfectly coordinated an extraordinary programme of entertainment supported and conducted by Musical Director Martyn Jones and accompanist Jackie Adamson.  As the Vicar Matt Tarling said in his opening speech, this has been a beautiful adventure raising funds for both the church and the group, it was so good to hear that Spennymoor Stage and Song takes their social responsibilities to heart: given back to their local community and entertaining its audience at the same time. As the cast took to the stage immaculately dressed in black with the women adorning yellow corsages and the men wearing matching bow ties, I could instantly see the effort that had gone into the coordination of the evening’s event and how professional it looked given an instant impact for the audience. Thank you also to the front of house team who work so hard in ensuring that myself and the audience were so well taken care of.

The opening number from the musical Sweet Charity, “Rhythm of Life” was beautifully delivered a perfect opening number, full of energy and passion with exceptional harmonies; this was followed by the men who took us on a journey to the South Pacific with the Roger and Hammerstein number “There Is Nothing Like A Dame” great characterisation and vocals delivered by Eric Hickson, Liam Etherington, Paul Simpson and Christopher Jones,  it was the women’s turn to respond with Bethany Hitchen, Jayne Etherington, Rebekah Newman and the female cast beautifully delivering the musical number  “ I’m Gonna Wash That Man Right Out Of My Hair”, beautiful harmonies and perfectly sang.  The cast then took us to France to the barricade with  two musical numbers  from Les  Misérables, Eric Hickson delivered a beautiful rendition of “Stars” excellent vocals and confidently delivered this was followed by Wendy Hindmarch singing the number “I Dreamed A Dream” a beautiful and confident performance from this talented lady.  This was followed with the full cast delivering the number “Lullaby Of Broadway” from 42nd Street, again a confident performance, there followed three numbers from my favourite musical: Blood Brothers, Ann Marie Clayton delivered a stand out and emotional performance of “Easy Terms” absolutely fantastic this lady certainly knows how to deliver, Susan Raper delivered a convincing and powerful rendition of “Bright New Day”  and concluding this section was Susan and  Ann Marie supported by the chorus with the number “ Tell me It’s Not True” great performance and perfectly delivered. Ian Patterson and the chorus delivered the rousing number from Guys and Dolls “Sit Down Your Rocking The Boat” a confident and powerful performance well done all, you certainly demonstrated your skills and harmonies in this number. Susan Raper and Claire Warren sang the beautiful number from the musical Chess  made famous by Elaine Page and  Barbara Dickson  “I know Him So Well”  beautiful sang and  well delivered, to conclude the first act Liam Etherington and Claire Warren led the chorus and with audience participation down “Lambeth Walk” from the musical Me and My Girl, a fantastic number full of energy and a perfect conclusion to act one.

To the second act opened with two numbers from My Fair Lady, Eric Hickson and cast delivered the stirring number “Im Getting Married In The Morning” great interpretation and certainly an audience pleaser this was followed by Karen Butler and the female cast singing “I Could Have Danced All Night” and what a performance from Karen, her vocals were beautiful, delivered with clarity and emotion and the acoustics were unbelievable in this number well done Karen. It was the men’s chorus next to entertain the audience with two fabulous numbers from Guys and Dolls, “Luck Be A Lady Tonight” followed by “When You See A Guy” great delivery and so nice to see the men having the opportunity to showcase their talent. The next number was a song I rarely hear sang in concerts from the musical Paint your Wagon,“Wanderin Star” absolutely beautifully delivered: the harmonise were outstanding, thoroughly enjoyed this number. There followed an outstanding duet from two artists with phenomenal vocals from the musical Wicked,  Ann Marie Clayton and Wendy Hindmarch emotionally delivered the number “For Good” and what a fantastic performance they delivered: their interaction and vocal ability was outstanding and certainly loved by the audience well done to you both, Susan Raper and the chorus followed with the title number from “Anything Goes” great number and well sang, Another of my favourite numbers followed with Claire Warren singing the beautiful and tender song “I Don’t Know How To Love Him” from the musical Jesus Christ Superstar well sang with tenderness and passion. Jayne Etherington, Liam Etherington, Ian Patterson and the chorus took the audience to a world outside of Yonkers as they encouraged the audience to “Put On Your Sunday Clothes” from the brilliant musical Hello Dolly excellent deliver: lovely vocals and very entertaining. There followed two numbers from the musical Fiddler on The Roof: Karen Butler and Eric Hickson supported by the chorus sang the beautiful song originally sang by Tevye and Golde at their oldest daughter's wedding “Sunrise Sunset”, superbly sang and delightfully delivered, the next number was delivered by Jayne Etherington, Rebekah Newman, Alex Graham and Bethany Hitchen; “Matchmaker” which tells the plight of Tevye and Golde’s daughters singing  about a matchmaker choosing their partners, lovely quartet which was charmingly sang, we returned back to the South Pacific as Lam Etherington sang the beautiful jazz standard number “Younger Than Springtime” lovely number and confidently delivered. To conclude this exceptional concert the whole cast sang the title song “42nd Street” great vocals and a well polished performance, congratulations to everyone involved especially the chorus who delivered a confident and well-polished showcase of musical numbers well done to Stacey Thompson, Jessica Horniman, Jennifer Revell, Susan Rogers, Christine Jones, Lucy Greathead, Abbie Newman, Alex Catterson, and Sue Marley.

Congratulation to  Spennymoor Stage and Song for another great evening of first-class entertainment.

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