Home Again

“Home Again”.  Yes, I am delighted to see LMCS back in their old theatre home again after last year’s curtailed production following the fire at the Harvester restaurant. The show I have just seen is a prelude to a chance to see “The Wedding Singer”, which I had the joy of seeing the evening before the closure last year. I recommend it to anyone seeing this report.

This musical revue show was the third compilation production for me in six weeks, so I have had the pleasure of seeing excerpts from some sixty plus shows from over the last ninety years. The joy of this type of show is that there are so many audience favourites to choose from and “Home Again” did so with a mix of songs from twenty-five eclectic productions from “Guys and Dolls” (1937) to 2017 (“The Greatest Showman”, “Six” and “Come from Away”).

The first and finale song was “From Now On” from “The Greatest Showman”, and this was expertly sung by Sam Shanks and it very aptly included the final choruses including the words “And we will come back home again.”

The composers of music in Disney films are very talented and it is only fitting that their compositions should be accepted as part of modern theatre. It was delightful to hear the two main songs from “Frozen” - Love is an Open Door and Let it Go rendered by Giselle Ball, Noah Wells and Charlotte Grimes. I always manage to find a real gem in revue shows and for me Starlight Express sequence by Tony Baker and Martin Combes was magnificent. A show that I am seeing later this years is “The Addams Family” and your act one finale with two of its songs has whetted my appetite for this upcoming production.   

There were many solos, duets and other combinations, all of whom performed well. The many ensemble numbers were well rehearsed and most enjoyably experienced by the audience. Singing was good and choreography in some of these items quite complicated but executed with precision. The stage cast were ably accompanied by a band of four musicians - two keyboards, bass and percussion. The cloth on the rear of the stage was cleverly used with pictures for setting the scene and enhanced the mood of the particular show.  

To take part in a show like this is always fun to do but one group of people I feel for is the costume section. You appear to have four people accredited with this task. What a great job they did especially in the ensemble choruses where up to thirty-five matching outfits were required.

An enjoyable evening was had by an enthusiastic audience - so congratulations to all involved.   

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