Hot On Your Heels

The writers of this show, collectively called Twoian Productions, have, once again produced an excellent evening’s entertainment.

The story, described in the programme as ‘Some Like it Hot’ meets ‘Hi De Hi’, was simple and well written.  The dialogue had lots of innuendos, some a bit ‘panto like’ but still funny and to the point.

The Principals were all excellent. Kyle Mace as Jack Potts, a wannabe professional singer, was perfect for the part.  His comedy timing was strong, as befits someone who as performed ‘Stand-up’ professionally.

He has a very expressive face which he worked extremely well, particularly when he was playing Jackie the Yellow Coat.  He has good vocals, although one or two notes were a little bit insecure, this was only the second performance of a brand-new show, so it was understandable.

Natasha Bird played Terri Perroni, the protégée of her uncle Len Zavaroni, a South London nightclub owner.  She has a lovely singing voice, which she used to great advantage.   Her characterisation as the innocent and talented singer was perfect.  Again a few insecure notes, particularly in Hush Little Angel, but, again, a new show with completely unknown music is not easy to perform.

John Kingston (Eddie Potts) was very good, a nice characterisation which improved as the show progressed.  Debbie Lambert was simply outstanding as Lady Muffingham, perfectly supported by Jayne Andrew as her sidekick Margot.  Jayne had some lovely comedy lines which she delivered with great effect.  Bob Sharman played the aforementioned Len Zavaroni very well, his Italian accent and characterisation were excellent.  It would have been very easy to overplay this part, but Bob got it spot on.

The writers are clearly seasoned Amdram people as they provided a myriad of secondary characters for the ensemble to play. Regrettably, so many I don’t have space to mention them all and it seems unfair to select a few.  I really enjoyed the way that the ensemble performed, they all had their characters, many different for different scenes, and the stage was alive from start to finish.

The costumes were a complete delight.   As a costumier myself, I really appreciate it when a society makes so much effort to ‘get it right’.  They were varied, well presented, perfectly in period and a credit to Helen Cook and her team.

The scenery was simple but effective and the use of digital back drops worked very well, creating the effects in a smart and simple way.  There was one time when the lights were brought up too soon, catching the stage crew making the scene change.  But the techie learned, and it didn’t happen again, and that’s how it should be.

Overall, a happy and light hearted show, which worked well in this small and intimate venue.  I am not sure it would translate to a larger stage and venue, but I thoroughly recommend it for societies who have similar size venues.  I do hope that the show is picked up by other societies and I would happily watch it again.

My thanks for a warm welcome from the Front of House team and it was a pleasure to meet the two Ian’s during the interval, I wish them all the best with this show.

 

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