THE GOLDEN DAYS

A rousing overture started this new and interesting work from the pen of Christopher Burrett, on its first public performance.  The swing feel was evident from the offset, in the setting of a club and the various characters that came through its doors.

The music was very good, the cast rose to the occasion, and performed with confidence and enthusiasm.  There were some lovely harmonies and the band provided good accompaniment to the singers with a well-rounded sound that lent itself well to the feel of the piece.  The story was interesting, but perhaps needed some refinement in content.

It was a good plan to have a professional singer (Claire Moore) and a professional jazz trumpeter (Mark Armstrong) to provide pre-show entertainment, which added much to the ambience of the production and provided a feeling of anticipation to the audience.

Lighting was simple, but adequate, although I felt more use could have been made of the follow spot to enable different use of the stage.  there were very long scene changes, so zoning off sections and using lighting to highlight the singers whilst changing scenes might have been a better option. 

Sound was mostly good, although band/stage sound balance was a little suspect during the first number but was successfully adjusted from then on.

Choreography was traditional, but suited the feel, and the various abilities of the cast.

Costumes were mostly good and were kept simple,

Young Earl (Jonathan Burrett) gave a very polished performance, good singing skills, and his relationship with Ruby (Sarah Taylor-Warner) was good, they tackled some quite challenging music well and created some moving moments.  

John Bradley (Earl) created a kindly character, who acted as a narrator of the story, with his children Max (Matthew Pritchard) and Amelia (Rose Taplin), a nice family unit.

Ruby’s mother – Tammy Bradley (Trudy) was a lovely character part, which Tammy created well, I enjoyed her solo very much.

Rhyannan Winter (Fran) gave us a sympathetic link between the family at all ages.

Christopher Fletcher (Bancroft) was the die-hard older club singer, the progress which has been made by Chris was very marked.

Christopher Burrett played the role of Dan, the club’s bandleader, and managed to keep his band in check even whilst on stage!

Mr Douglas the club owner (Malcolm Calvert) was a great part, which gave Malcolm the chance to be assertive, which he achieved well.  His downtrodden secretary Michelle, was played nicely by Donna Fletcher.

It was good to see Kieran Pritchard (Keith) take a small part, but his enthusiasm was evident throughout.

The ensemble of Bridget Calvert, Ian Rogers, Leo Morawski, Victoria Goode, Sophie Pritchard, Nina Cobfeld and Robert Jones, supported the principals well.

All in all a nice production, that would have benefitted from speeding up and refining in some places, but an appreciative audience enjoyed the show.

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