Pick and Mix Cabaret

What a lovely evening’s entertainment, celebrating 5 years of Broad-Way Players, and it certainly was an all-embracing celebration.

What I love about Broad-Way Players is that they are all-inclusive, regardless of age, ability or any other considerations, and this cabaret gave people a chance to perform things they wouldn’t normally do, and they acquitted themselves well.

The Hall lent itself well to this type of entertainment, a minimum of decoration, but excellent acoustics, which enabled us to hear everyone well. Seated round tables gave a relaxed a
friendly atmosphere, and we all enjoyed the varied programme of music, a sketch and a monologue.

Alice Sheppard, the Players new MD had found some good backing tracks, and had helped the singers to get the best out of their numbers. As well as some good solo singing, the
ensemble numbers had depth and volume, along with some good harmonies. The red and black costume colour scheme worked well, and the men particularly had given great attention to detail in what they wore!

We were encouraged to sing along when relevant, which gave the audience a chance to join in, and the seasonal numbers at the end were most enjoyable, with much fun and
gaiety created with the 12 Days of Christmas. There was a lot of energy and enthusiasm from the cast, which coupled with good choreography gave the production a fun feeling. I liked the opening number with cast walking round the audience, it worked well in a small venue.

I can’t mention everyone by name and will just mention a few that were particularly memorable, but I felt that everyone pulled their weight.
Some of the numbers chosen were difficult, but the cast had obviously worked hard to get their parts on point, Ian and Jamie did well with Agony, a very difficult song, and Terry
shone with his rendition of Oh What a Beautiful Morning, everyone was with him, a great moment. Alice, as well as MD-ing, gave a delightful rendition of Tell Me It’s Not True, and Elisha
showed her dancing skills in a solo number, which was well-performed and very poignant, unfortunately some of the floor work was not visible to some of the audience, but nicely done. Just a note when not performing on a stage…..try and ensure the action can be seen by everyone! The Players asked two old friends to perform numbers as guests, and these were much
appreciated by the audience.

I could continue writing and say something about every person and number, as there was much to appreciate, but space does not permit. My thanks to Broad-Way Players for their hospitality, always a good evening, and I went away feeling that we’d been treated to an inclusive and fun production, which left us all on a high – well done to everyone.

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