Musical Squares

Like many societies, Harrogate Operatic Players suffered great sadness during 2020, starting off with the pandemic suspending rehearsals for their book show “Kipps!” The New Half A Sixpence musical which in turn lead to the cancellation of the show, which was due to go on at the Harrogate Theatre in May 2020. Not being able to put on a performance for their local audiences was something they had never experienced before and was indeed very sad news.

As time went on and theatres across the country remained closed this remained a big problem to our societies as no shows meant no money coming in plus members were not able to meet each other for their weekly “fix” of entertainment and camaraderie which we all had during rehearsals.

This was the point when HOPs thought about doing “Musical Squares” which chronicled the story of UK theatre and the lockdown(s). in the year 2020. The members rehearsed as they had hoped they would be able to perform albeit in a COVID-19 secure way, they arranged the use of a hall in which they could mark out the stage area and also arrange the seating to ensure social distancing. The first performance was to be early November; however, a second lockdown was announced which meant they would be unable to perform on their chosen dates.

Not to be outdone by a mere pandemic HOPs rallied the troops and managed to get in a last-minute rehearsal in order to perform on Tuesday 3rd November, just prior to the second lockdown regulations caming into force.

Clare Pascall, one of HOPs clever members, pitched the idea of ‘Musical Squares’ to the committee and they all quickly got on board assembling their production team including Jim Lunt: Musical Director, Lucy Thackwray: debuting as Choreographer, assisted by Lizzie Oates, Steve Graham: Staging Manager, and Clare, herself, as Director. They worked out the setup, planned the content and went in search of a venue, not only to perform in but to rehearse in as well. There was so much research they had to do to ensure they created a COVID safe environment, whilst remaining compliant with the EVER changing, but necessary, guidelines. ‘Musical Squares’ was never about raising money. Even though just to cancel KIPPS cost over £16k and fundraising is going to have to be a real focus for HOPS in 2021

Fortunately, they had filmed all the rehearsals for this production so members could watch these to make sure they were all “singing from the same hymn sheet”.

After performing this just once the group decided they would like to do another performance of Musical Squares, this was to be performed again in front of a live audience, again all socially distanced. The performance was again very well received and because there were so many people who wanted to see their production including their regional rep, councillor and other members it was decided to do an invited Zoom performance, some of the footage was taken from their rehearsals and some from the last performance.

The concert tells the story of 2020 using a mix of classic and modern songs and dances from some of the best musicals such as Les Misérables, 9 to 5, Waitress, Joseph and His Amazing Technicolour Dreamcoat, Dear Evan Hanson and Hamilton to name but a few. It also contained some very creative narration which told the story about how the country was ripped apart due to the pandemic, as you can imagine this was at times very moving and at other times extremely funny, just like life itself!

HOPs hope to launch their next production, Kinky Boots, in the Spring which will hopefully be performed in Harrogate in the summer of 2021.

They are to be congratulated in taking the bull by the horns and all pulling together to bring theatre back during these unprecedented times.

 

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