The Best of West End and Broadway

The show was billed as ‘The Best of West End and Broadway’. This was indeed what we saw and more, bringing the songs from these iconic theatrical locations to the historic town of Pershore in Worcestershire.

The show itself consisted of music and dance from 33 musicals! Some titles more well-known than others however, it was likely the audience would at least have known the music selected if not the title of the show. The cast of 45 members and superb orchestra took us on an amazing evening of entertainment with no less than 650 costumes and stunning lighting.

With all these ingredients it was little wonder Pershore Operatic and Dramatic Society played to a sell out audience and a highly appreciative one at that.

With so many cast members, many of whom took part in numerous numbers, it is impossible to name everyone. Even if looking for the outstanding musical numbers it would still be a tall order as they simply came one after another and the quality of this show came out time and time again.

The show opened with an ‘overture’ involving the whole company and a medley from three musicals. It was slick and promised the quality of performance about to come.  This was followed by ‘One Night Only’ from Dreamgirls sung by Tessa Sheehy and ‘Tell Me It’s Not True’ from Blood Brothers lead by Lindsey Kirby. Both very well done. Shortly afterwards we heard, ‘Somebody to Love’ from We Will Rock You sung by Loren Howland and, ‘How Flying Adored’ from Evita sung by David Hemming again both very well done.  

The absolute highlights were the ‘Phantom Medley’ especially from Suzie Tapley and Briony Stevens supported well by Paul Tapley and Peter Spence.  Les Misérables involving the whole company was well staged and of a particularly high quality vocally, visually and from the musicians.

Mention must also be made of ‘Pure Imagination’ from Charlie and the Chocolate Factory by Steve Miller, ‘The Impossible Dream’ from Man of La Mancha by Paul Tapley. Finally, ‘Bui Doi’ from Miss Saigon and ‘Tonight’ from Westside Story. All these were outstanding.  The staging of ‘When I Grow Up’ from Matilda made the most of the fun this provides for adults dressed as school children.

The director was fortunate to have a team of choreographers at her disposal. They provided some good use of the stage and ensured within the company numbers they made the most of the stronger dancers such as ‘42nd Street’. We saw two ‘dance only’ routines – ‘Somewhere over the Rainbow’ from The Wizard of Oz and, ‘Wait for It’ from Hamilton.

The set for the show was simple. Either a bare stage or use of some rostra. The lighting was extremely effective. The use of LED lighting including moving heads was well throughout creating the right atmosphere for each of the different numbers. The costumes were good and stunning in visual effect for their characterisation and representation of the pieces such as many already named plus others including Children of Eden, Wicked, Godspell, Sweet Charity and The Jersey Boys.  

The ten musicians were under the leadership of musical director Andrew Hemming. The music was wonderfully played especially during both Phantom and the opening to Les Misérables. The orchestra arrangements were incredible.  

Congratulations to Judy Megarry and her entire production team. It was evident this show was well rehearsed and well put together with numbers following each other in a constructed way. The energy throughout was amazing. Thank you also to Jim Hutcheon in his role of President of the society and all the front of house team for making us so welcome.

I most certainly look forward to seeing forthcoming production performed by this creative and talented society including ‘The Pirates of Penzance’ in December 2018.

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