Me and My Girl

“Me and My Girl” must surely rank as one of the best “feel good” shows on the circuit today.  Indeed, if any of the audience left the hall after this performance not, either chuckling to the almost non-stop humour or humming the endless list of well-known melodies, I would be astonished.

The show opened with the cast making their way through the auditorium – but this felt like no ordinary auditorium entrance.  The cast exuded their individual characters and interacted appropriately with nearby members of the audience. A great start to a great show.

Moving on to the principals:  one cannot, but give full credit to Andrew Doig, cast in the part of Bill Snibson. Andrew’s timing was immaculate, and between himself and Director, Scott Melvin, they had extracted every last ounce of humour out of a musical which in itself is brimming over with laughs. As Snibson’s girlfriend, Sally Smith (Helen Knowles) joins him in several of the well-known and loved numbers – not least of all the title song itself. Andrew and Helen make an extremely competent duo, both in singing and acting, but, also, are no less exciting to listen to in solo routines.  Further hilarity ensues when Snibson is chased (literally) by wealthy socialite Lady Jaqueline (Suzie Brain) – who is always after a man with money.  Their first class comedic timing is shown off to great effect in “You Would If You Could”.  Lady Jaquie quickly ditches her current boyfriend, The Hon. Gerald Bollingbroke (Neil Jarrett) when Snibson is introduced to the family by their solicitor, Parchester (Craig Spence).  Here we have yet another member of CAMS who takes on a character and makes it his own.  Sadly, Parchester is only scripted with one major number in the musical. The head of the household, the Duchess of Dene, graciously played by Ruth Anderson, left us in no doubt at all as to who wore the trousers in this house!  Having praised the major characters, it would seem churlish not to give mention to the minor principals. CAMS is obviously extremely well endowed with competent character actors, so, when it comes to the other landed gentry, and their ladies, we have a host of characterisations which are individually and collectively extremely entertaining. We meet Lord & Lady Battersby (Bill Gillan & Joan Wood), Sir Jasper Tring (Raymond Young), Sir John Tremayne (Eric Towns)  and Sophie Stainsley Asherton (Jude Vandecasteele) – not forgetting the Butler of the house (Gordon Wood) – well done each and every one. 

Direction by Scott Melvin was excellent – obviously understanding all aspects of the show.  This was augmented by Lorna Lewis’ choreography.  Working within the tight confines of the Corn Exchange does not make for easy choreography, however Lorna’s clever and appropriate sequences made challenging use of the small space. Last but not least, MD Kate Doig’s orchestra and control of the onstage singing was the icing on the cake.  Thank you CAMS for a fun-packed evening!

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