Stand By Me

Once again, a warm welcome was extended on arrival at this year’s musical extravaganza, divided into 15 sections directed by several of the company; Carleen Goggin-Jones, Ellie Bugg, Miriam Knight and Rebecca Brown with overall show direction by Val Knight.

The opening section entitled ‘Pink’ was slick as ever, with a compilation of upbeat songs with a strong ‘Barbie’ influence. Naturally the ladies were dressed in pink with silver trim whilst the gents favoured pink shirts with white trousers. This was the first of many sections which were all well- dressed. Harlequin Stage School excelling as usual, followed with ‘Material Girl’ also in pink.

Compere for the evening was Steve Carley who provided an effective link throughout the evening sprinkled with a number of jokes, often with a dose of corn, but none the less appreciated by the audience.

In the next section ‘Jungle’ we met youngsters from Flyford Flavell Primary School who delivered a range of Classics with great atmosphere and it struck me once again what an experience it must be for these youngsters to be part of such a production and especially later when possibly for the first time they were introduced to the beauty of Rodgers and Hammerstein.

The section ‘Girls’  was led by Jacque Cook singing with sincerity whilst the number was ‘signed’ by Vicky Odell with a polished dance accompaniment by Jade Merry  and Gee Sproul.  Then followed a sequence of smooth and gentler numbers as we were taken to ‘One Night in Paris’ and I particularly enjoyed ‘She’ sung by Dave Alban. Then, Harlequin Stage School returned with a beautifully danced ‘Smile’ and the act closed with another very smartly dressed sequence from R&H mentioned above, when we also said good night to the youngsters. For other performances youngsters from Flyford Flavell handed the stage to Himbleton C of E First School.

Act 2 stepped up a gear with an opening ‘Festival’ including an impressive acapella version by seven of the girls with “I wish I was a Punk Rocker (with flowers in my hair)” by Sandi Thom. Throughout but particularly this section provided the opportunity for a great set of lads to demonstrate some nifty footwork but how the girls could match that and always smile at the same time was impressive. Harlequin Stage School returned with ‘Betty Boop’ with great style.

‘Saturday Night at the Movies’ contained a great range of musical numbers, with all dressed in black and white and then the audience were captivated by the evening’s guest artist Charlie Green, impressive as ever.  The Company then came together with ‘Brand New Broadway’ with some of the best songs from modern original musicals including The Book of Mormon, Kinky Boots, Six and Hamilton – a great piece by Nathan Becket-Wilde singing ‘You’ll Be Back’ as King George. The section was also a great opportunity for several other solo singers to excel and sound balance throughout was just right with an effective band.

‘Christmas Truce’ by the ‘Harlequins’ was beautiful and the final section ‘I’ll Be home for Christmas’ was atmospheric. Cloths were sparingly used throughout, but one that represented an armed force’s tent was very effective. There was a poignant moment when loved ones joined each other for the ‘Most Wonderful time of the Year’, but not all were sadly reunited. All however was concluded on a brighter note when we were introduced to the next eagerly awaited production in 2025, entitled ‘Shine’, which is what WMTC can do in bucket loads.

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