One Hundred Years of Song

 

To celebrate their centenary, Bramley Parish Theatre Players brought an afternoon of song entitled “One Hundred Years of Music” to the Trinity Methodist Church in Bramley. Technically, their centenary was last year but we all know what happened then! As if Covid wasn’t enough, BPTP lost their base and performance venue so it’s been a difficult couple of years for them. But, on the basis of this production, they’ve come out of it stronger and better than ever.

The concept was simple – a song from each decade of their 100 years, starting with an ensemble number from the 1920s – I Want To Be Happy from No, No, Nanette. That set the tone for the whole show – I never stopped smiling for the rest of the show. Two solo numbers followed, representing the 1930s – Laura Collins had the unenviable task of performing the first of them, Somewhere Over the Rainbow from the Wizard of Oz. She rose beautifully to the occasion with a note perfect rendition of the classic song. The second, I Get a Kick Out Of You from Anything Goes, was performed by Dean Patrick. I’ve only ever know Dean as a Director so I was pleasantly surprised by his strong vocal talents.

The 1940s/1950s were all about the music of Rodgers and Hammerstein – there was so much to chose from that instead of one song we were treated to a medley from the likes of Sound of Music, Oklahoma and South Pacific. There were too many highlights to mention them all but I must mention the different version of You’ll Never Walk Alone, with some beautiful harmonies.

Dean, Holly, Joe and Katie performed a charming rendition of Feed the Birds from The 1960s Mary Poppins, followed by two songs from the 1970s – Emma Smith sang a stunning version of I Don’t Know Him To Love Him from Jesus Christ Superstar and her son, Joe, gave us an amusing Mr Cellophane from Chicago. It’s amazing that these songs sound so contemporary when they are 50 years old.

The 1980s were a slight anomaly – they were represented by a song from the 1960s, Be My Baby from Dirty Dancing. I reckon that if Phil Spector had lived in Bramley and he’d heard Janice, Rachel, Shelly, Sue and Tina perform their version, complete with hip movements, the Ronettes wouldn’t have got a look in. At the complete opposite end of the 1980s spectrum was a duet by Dean and Emma of Phantom of the Opera from the show of the same name. I’ve heard this song so many times but this topped them all - I’m not surprised Emma “collapsed” after hitting that last note. Stunning.
 
It was the turn of the 4 youngest members of the company – Freya, Kelpie, Liam and Sam – to tell us all about When Children Ruled the World from Whistle Down the Wind. And they did it so well, complete with choreography. And rounding off the 1990s the inevitable song from Wicked, albeit not the usual one – Indie and Yasmine opted for Loathing/What is this Feeling?

Moving into the next century, a trio of songs from lesser known musicals – Holly, Indie, Joe, Laura and Yasmine gave us Five for all Forever from Little Women, Katie stunned us with Journey to the Past from Anastasia and Holly, Joe and Laura gave us a superb Requiem from Dear Evan Hansen.

To round the concert off, we came bang up to date with that anthem to God’s own county, Yorkshire, from Calendar Girls the Musical, with some more stunning harmonies from the ensemble.
 
The whole performance was conceived, directed, choreographed, compered and musically directed by Emma Smith. Massive congratulations to Emma for putting together a fabulous afternoon’s entertainment. Emma said the Society were looking forward to the next century and from the evidence of the young people on stage, that future is in very safe hands.

Thanks for an extremely pleasant and happy afternoon.
 

© NODA CIO. All rights reserved.