The Last 5 Years

Wow! 5 Years already. The Drama Dept decided for their fifth year anniversary to do a concert with medleys from most of their productions over the last five years. The stage was very simple - a two tier stage with side flats decorated with various costume pieces from their productions.

Gary Jones acted as compère and also sang in a couple of the numbers but for the main part it was the Academy children and youths that did the performing and boy, did they perform!

Costumes were again kept very minimalistic with white branded t shirts for the juniors and inters, black branded t shirts for the seniors all paired with black stretch pants and black dance shoes. 

We started with a high energy medley from Annie JR, props were mops and brushes and were all handled competently. Diction was good throughout, sound was great, lighting was fairly generic to let the talent being showcased stand out on merit alone. From there we went wintery and straight into Elf JR, wrapped presents were the main props in this section. It was interesting to see lots of different children taking the lead in songs - not just the children who had originally performed the number in the actual show, everyone was given a chance to shine and in the words of Hamilton, they were definitely "Not throwin' away my shot". Every single performer on stage performed as if they were in the West End- they engaged with the audience, they looked to be genuinely enjoying every second, choreography was tight and on point, songs were emoted well, diction had obviously been discussed - there was obvious light and shade.

Beth Moran made me cry with her performance of "Kilimanjaro " from Calendar Girls The Musical, she showed a maturity far beyond her calendar years, tone was excellent, breath control superb, she bared her soul to us. The newest junior members of the Academy brought their rendition of "A Little Bit Naughty" from the Matilda medley, they have only been attending a couple of months and are all single digit ages and tiny on the stage but they brought some big and bold personalities. They were not afraid to sing out and give a full performance, I am looking forward to watching them grow and learn and polish their craft. They had props to deal with (a book and a block to stand and sit on) vocals and choreography - there were no signs of any nerves and they totally smashed it out of the park. The concert also consisted of medleys from The Little Mermaid, Legally Blonde, Frozen and The Last Five Years, it would take far too long to pick through all of them so I am turning to a standout performance for me, my personal favourite from the whole concert, was the Madagascar medley. It was intentionally loud and slightly chaotic, great vocals throughout while also hoofing some fabulous high energy choreography - I loved it! The characterisations for the various animals was very evident, every single person on stage worked their socks off. Please don't feel disheartened if I haven't mentioned you by name or gone into detail about your section - what was very evident to me was a team on the stage all the time, a show family - the whole concert would not have been as fabulous and full of talent without every single person on the stage and I applaud you all. 

Well done, Drama Dept. Thank you for your hospitality. I look forward to seeing you all again very soon.

 

 

 

 

 

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