State Fair

For their second musical production each year The Savoy Singers like to present something less well known and on this occasion it gave me an opportunity to see a musical I had not seen before.
Andrew Thomas did a first class job as musical director. The overture was splendidly played and throughout the show he controlled the large orchestra beautifully. Neither the underscored sections nor the soloists were overpowered at any time.
The stage was simply set and for the first time the company used a revolve which made it easy to change the scene location with a minimum of fuss. The down side was that it restricted choreography and the company numbers had a tendency to look cramped, but it undoubtedly added a professional feel to the staging. There were some particularly good individual performances, notably Rachel Jones (Melissa Frake), Andrew Wilson (Abel Frake), Adam Bayjou (Pat Gilbert), and Ashleigh Jones (Margy Frake). The three part harmonies confidently sung by the men involved were a delight and the company numbers were lively, well performed and vocally strong.
Expert lighting and sound greatly enhanced the presentation and the costumes and properties all complemented the period.

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