Summer Show and Quiz Night

I have only previously seen Bramley Parish Theatre Players performing pantomime so I had no real idea what to expect from their Summer Show. And what a revelation it was !! There was talent in abundance from the young members of the Society through to the “not so young”.

The show opened with a roof-lifting rendition of “Raise Your Voice”, from Sister Act – led by Emma Smith, in fine voice throughout the evening, and accompanied by the company. It was only fitting that this should also close the show as an uplifting encore.

We moved on to a selection from some “modern musicals” – Rent, Chess, School of Rock and Wicked. The highlight of this section was the young members rocking it out to If Only you Would Listen – well done to Yasmine, Holly &  Indie, supported by Abbie, Dominic and Thea.

A “Trio of Trios” followed (great idea!) – the youngsters again having fun with Mama, I’m a Big Girl Now from Hairspray, the men, Djo, Joe and Dean reminding us how important Friendship is and Zoe, Emma and Katie giving us Make Him Mine from The Witches of Eastwick.

To close the first half the entire company gave us a wonderful arrangement of some of the greatest hits of Rodgers and Hammerstein. During this a couple of things occurred to me – the company were singing harmonies  and some really intricate ones at that. I was told this was a first for the Society. And secondly, they were being accompanied by a highly proficient live band – another first I gather. Many of the larger Societies would hesitate to do this style of show with a band. Thanks to Robyn Saunders, Wil Jones, Bill Evans  and Adam Boniface for your contribution to the evening.

We didn’t do very well at the interval quiz, but we were much more successful in the raffle. Thanks.

The youngsters opened the second half with a collection of songs about Disney Heroes – a nice change from the usual Princesses songs. Just a word of warning – be very careful using Disney songs!! They don’t like it.

Another trio followed – this time Frank Sinatra songs. Nice renditions of Fly me to the Moon (Emma W), Lady is a Tramp (Zoe and the ladies) and Me and my Shadow (Dean and Joe)

After trying to get on stage all evening, Amanda gave us a hilarious version of Whatever Happened to my Part, from Spamalot. Not to be outdone, Emma Smith, told us all about the Alto’s Lament. Brilliant comedic talent from both of them.

The whole evening was wrapped up with a medley of Neil Diamond’s greatest hits.

Dean Patrick held the whole evening together with some entertaining banter, and kept us informed about what to expect. 

Many congratulations to Emma Smith for producing such a wonderful evening’s entertainment and to her and Dean for the choreography. Let’s not forget the Stage Manager, Trevor Smith, and Edward Turner on sound and lights.

A colleague of mine recently talked about a local Society being “the spirit of community theatre” – this is what I feel about Bramley. They don’t perform in the big venues and they haven’t got the biggest budgets but they do provide a cracking evening’s entertainment for and by local people.

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