Stepping Out

This warm, funny and very poignant musical play had me laughing out loud and close to tears with its sheer power to entertain. A tap dancing evening class meets every week in the village hall and comprises 7 Ladies and 1 man plus the teacher and the accompanist. The story starts gently so that the audience can begin to recognize the very different characters each with their foibles obvious for all to see.  At the start they ‘hoof’ their way through each scene humorously and badly until Mavis (the professional dance teacher) tells them they are going to appear in a concert. The author of the play must be a close observer of human nature and I am certain most of the audience recognized some of the personality traits… if being honest, either in themselves or in friends and family. When it was revealed that each, including the teacher had human failings, the story revealed its true intensity.

There were the usual first night hiccoughs, with a couple of slow line pickups, malfunctioning lighting and the sound not quite balanced, but after the interval everything was very smooth and professional. The small set worked very well with the cast using the floor of the auditorium for many entrances and exits. In such a small venue the audience could not fail to become intimately involved with the performers. The costumes were very good, always highlighting the characters and the personalities of their varying shapes and sizes.

The music is not memorable, but used in a Sondheim ‘esque’ fashion to progress the story, is intelligent and interesting. A small band hidden away in an upstairs room was expertly guided by MD John W Johnson and the cast were so well rehearsed they followed the musical entrances easily by video link. The experienced choreographer, Carol Applegate had worked hard to accommodate the varying expertise of the performers and still made the routines entertaining… they all made tap dancing look easy.

The directors Mike Purnell and Liz Mount were blessed with a very talented and intelligent cast who each grasped the essence of the character they were portraying and each delivered an outstanding performance. The directors  had been careful not to allow ‘punch lines’ to dominate the humour, but to let the performers with their expert timing, deliver the comedy naturally within the dialogue , therefore the comedy ( and the pathos) was delivered from the heart of the character. As a director, I can only imagine this cast was a joy to direct.

This production was a delight, pure teamwork with all performances so good it is impossible to highlight any one person. You all were great. You presented a feel good evening of pleasure…pure theatre.

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