Heroes and Sweethearts

With the 80th anniversary of VE Day, what a great way to start the celebrations. AMCS had put together a concert full of memories and prompts for people to reminisce throughout the evening. This was a concert they had first performed 10 years ago for the 70th anniversary and was well worth repeating.

There was a contrast between the two halves of the show, the first half tugging at the emotions of people remembering the effects of loved ones going off to war, and the second half focussing on the celebrations when the war ended.

The musical numbers were well thought out and flowed from one to the next, the ensemble, in particular, sang well and the harmony lines were strong. It was nice to have an 8-piece orchestra accompanying the musical numbers, the arrangements were sympathetic to the vocals on stage and added an extra dimension to them.

This was a show where most of the cast took centre stage at some point, so it is difficult to single out individual performances, however, as a fan of close harmony work, I did enjoy the trios/quartets of ladies who performed the Andrews Sisters numbers. This is no criticism of the performers, but unfortunately the people in charge of sound were unaware who was singing the tune, so at times we had more harmony than melody.

Again, mention must be made of the Junior cast, it is lovely to see such performers of a young age taking to the stage, let’s hope that their enthusiasm continues in the years to come.

The choreography was well thought out by Nickiy Critchley, the ensemble moved well as a unit and it catered for all levels of ability. Julie Lamb’s direction was precise and the movement around the stage by everyone was impressive, there was no sign of any hesitation of where people were meant to be. Mark Bayliss is a talented musician, and his direction is well received by the company. The vocal and orchestral arrangements worked very well and suited everyone he was working with.

The set was simple but effective and the lighting plot really added to the atmosphere, I could fully imagine what it must have been like to have searchlights beaming down on you from the skies.

I could tell that this performance had been well received by the reaction of the audience around me, singing along to all of the well-known numbers and flag-waving to their hearts content. As I said, this was a great way to begin the celebrations of the 80th anniversary of VE Day and I’m sure it will be as well received on the 90th anniversary!

Well done everyone, it was a really ‘feel-good factor’ evening. Congratulations.

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