Night at the Musicals

This entertaining musical revue had been put together with skill and appreciation of the magic of musicals. Mostly well known  numbers with a couple of less well known’ gems’, the programme took account of the ages of the cast from the  Mini PYPs, the PYPS and the adult company often  with the groups cleverly interacting in the song selections. With a blank stage and a minimal number of colourful additions to uniformly dark costumes… the entertainment value of the programme and the talents of the cast needed to shine…. And shine both did.

The director of the show Janet Astley and her young assistant and choreographer (her daughter) Caroline, both showed great skill in moving a large company around the stage. All the cast from the minis upwards were so well rehearsed that the show had excellent pace. The cast performed with great confidence and were comfortable with musical entrances and exits and congratulations must go to Miles Boyd, the MD and leader of the excellent small orchestra... well done team.

Without exception every member of the cast showed enthusiasm and talent, great care had been taken to ensure the chosen songs matched the talents of the chosen performers and the company singing was excellent. Of course there were some outstanding moments and mention of them in no way lessens the enjoyable impact of the whole production.

In Act 1 the Mini PYPS and the PYPS performed the songs from Matilda brilliantly to loud, well deserved applause. ‘Wash that Man’ and ‘Dames’ from South Pacific was a cleverly arranged musical medley performed with light hearted fun. ‘Seasons of Love’ from Rent was most enjoyable with quality singing. But… next we go into the realms of outstanding. ‘Don’t Let me go’ from Shrek – the Musical was performed by young Isaac Lewis. What a talented young man who can sing, move well and act and his sense of timing was immaculate! He has to be a star in the making… one to watch! Outstanding!

Following on quite dramatically was Grace Martinson singing, ‘I’ll be here’ from Ordinary Days. I venture to suggest that few, if anyone (including me) in the audience had ever heard this number before. Telling the story of the loss of a loved one in the 9/11 tragedy, you could hear a pin drop as she sang/acted her way through the song. It was beyond outstanding, an emotional experience that had some of the audience openly weeping…… Follow that!

In Act 2  we had lovely sexy ladies singing and dancing their way through  a  cleverly adapted medley  from Chicago, lovely singing of less well known Andrew Lloyd Webber numbers  with  ‘Vaults of Heaven from Whistle Down the Wind  and songs from ‘Joseph’ particularly impressive.  More entertaining numbers followed and the show ended with a selection from Les Miserables memorably performed by the whole company.  Worth a special mention were excellent performances by Ben Salter, Leah Sperring, Lizz Gillam and Verity Huntley. 

One note for future reference…  diction and clarity is just as important when singing as when speaking, beginnings and ends of words are important as they complete a  story told  in song… no names here!

‘Night at the Musicals’ was an entertaining and interesting production with a talented production team and accomplished and talented performers. It was a fitting climax to a difficult season for Portishead Players. All I can say is - Martien Louwers(RIP), to whom the show was dedicated and who is greatly missed by everyone, would be ‘very well pleased’.

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