I Love Musicals!

This was a compilation show, taking the audience on a whirlwind tour through 18 musicals.  The eclectic selection took us from the 1930s and 40s (Wizard of Oz, Oklahoma and Annie Get Your Gun) right up to date with Avenue Q and Matilda.  (Since I assume that Matilda isn’t open for amateur performance yet, a compilation show is a good way of getting to perform a few of Tim Minchin’s songs.)  There was a good variety of music; in this sort of show there is a temptation to use just the barnstormers.  In this case, whilst several barns were duly stormed, there was also a selection of the lesser-known pieces, bringing in different styles and moods.  So, for example, from Les Miserables, instead of Do You Hear the People Sing and Bring Him Home, we had the young Cosette’s wistful Castle on a Cloud, sung beautifully by Tara Alavi, followed by Red and Black on the eve of the Paris Uprising and Empty Chairs and Empty Tables in its aftermath.

There were a few problems with the sound on the evening that I saw the show - mainly microphones remaining on and picking up the conversations of the backstage cast, which was distracting for the audience and must have been so for the singers on the stage.  Other than that, it was very accomplished technically - a single set with a staircase centre to a raised upstage area, and just a few stage blocks moved around by the cast to create settings for the different songs.  Sue Tatnall and Heather Cousins must have been working their fingers to the bone on the costumes; I lost track of the number of changes in the course of the show.

With compilation shows, there is no continuity of character, and indeed, deliberately a high turnover of roles, so it’s difficult to single out parts of the show, without missing the good work from everyone else.  Nevertheless, herewith a few of my personal favourites.  The duet of Doll on a Music Box and Truly Scrumptious (from Chitty Chitty Bang Bang) between Rebecca Woodhead and George Lambourne was a delight.  In a completely different style, Mike Alborough’s powerful rendering of Love Changes Everything (from Aspects of Love) drew an appropriately enthusiastic reaction from the audience.  Whistle Down the Wind does not get many performances (it’s an unusual show), but the extracts were performed well by the children’s group, and in particular Ellis Bradley singing No Matter What.  The children were also to the fore in the selections from Matilda, with Alex Harrison delivering an excellent performance of Naughty, followed by the children’s ensemble singing some really crisp harmonies.  Of the ensemble pieces, I was particularly taken by the spectacle presented by the Ascot Gavotte.  In picking out those highlights I seem to have missed out the solo and small group pieces from the ladies and young ladies - there were so many of them, and they were all good!

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