The Musical Alphabet

An evening of alphabetical delights was on the cards for this, my first visit to EODS, and I must say that the Society did not disappoint! 

Bringing together twenty six songs, plus closer ‘School Song’ from Matilda, which neatly brought the lexicographical threads of the night together, EODS delivered a high quality show from start to finish.

Cast and crew deserve congratulations for bringing such a well-rounded and entertaining concert to the stage – it was great to see that they clearly enjoyed the experience as much as I did.

Decorating the extremities of the stage were several groups of letters in light boxes, which lit up in random succession before settling on the first letter of next song title – a neat touch which kept the audience engaged between numbers.

Embarrassingly, it had to be pointed out to me that the letters at the back of the stage spelled out EODS, alongside A and Z!

Free of clutter, the open stage, with a platform at the rear, provided the necessary space for the cast to work in, with the odd item of furniture, such as a piano that cleverly transformed into a taxi firm desk, wheeled on from time to time. 

Garbed in brightly coloured tops, each with a letter of the alphabet on the back, and enhanced by the odd additional piece of costume as required for the show in question, the twenty-six (of course!) strong cast certainly looked the part.

However, my hopes that they would at some point spell something out were dashed – there were no quick brown foxes here (happily, no rude words either!)

I liked the fact that most of the cast remained on stage for most of the songs – even if they were just sitting at the caberet-style tables at the sides of the stage – reminding us that these are songs from musicals after all.

Judicious song choice resulted in a good spread of eras, tempos and styles, running the gamut from Gilbert and Sullivan, through classics such as Oklahoma and more obscure shows such as Zorro, all the way up to the recent hit musical about Henry VIII’s wives, ‘Six’. 

Keeping group numbers interspersed with solos and the odd duet led to some pleasing juxtapositions, with the rat-pack jollity of ‘Well Did You Evah?’ from High Society being followed by a Lin-Manuel Miranda tongue-twister from In the Heights; and a hot jazz number from Victor/Victoria butting up against ‘No-one But You’ from We Will Rock You (as a Queen fan, this song certainly struck an emotional chord.)

Launching the show with finger clicks was the theme from The Addams Family, which came complete with an impressive ‘Thriller’-style zombie walk-down – the singing and acting hitting a high standard from the off.

Memorable moments for me included the theme from Fame (taking me back to 80s school discos) and a joyous ‘Another Day Of Sun’ from La La Land; whilst the Umbrellas of Cherbourg dance number provided a pleasing theatrical sorbet prior to the final straight.

‘Newsies’ opened the second half strongly, and later a piratical company just about kept their moustaches on during a rousing ‘With Cat-Like Tread’ from Pirates of Penzance (well done to one of the pirates for styling it out when his sword broke!), before launching into probably the only song from Avenue Q that is suitable for a family audience!

Overall, then, the programme worked well with a good variety of pace and style, which cannot have been easy to achieve given the alphabetical straightjacket within which the songs had to be selected.

Performances were excellent across the board – it would be wrong to single anyone out, so suffice to say that it was great to see that everyone got their chance to shine (whether in a singing solo, as a dancer, or as part of the well-drilled ensemble) and that they all grabbed it with both hands – well done, everyone!

Quality choreography, energetically performed by both the core dancers and the rest of the cast (all showing great stamina), complimented many of the songs – I loved the random ‘whack-a-mole’ section in ‘Sit Down You’re Rocking the Boat’, and the complex movements during the ‘School Song’ finale were perfectly executed.

Rebecca Barclay and Chloe French, the directors, kept everything moving smoothly and it was evident from the smiles on everyone’s faces that this was a happy cast, revelling in their return to the stage.

Separating songs from their context can sometimes makes it harder to appreciate the emotion behind them, but the cast did a great job in getting this across nonetheless –   ‘You Will Be Found’ from Dear Evan Hansen, was a good example of this, as soloist and ensemble worked seamlessly together.

The lighting was well judged, with a smattering of smoke providing additional atmosphere, although I did feel that it was a shame that the black outs were so prompt at the end of every song – it might have been nicer if the cast could have enjoyed a few seconds in the spotlight to receive their well-deserved applause.

Undoubtedly, the couple of ‘first night’ instances where soloist’s sound was a little slow to fade up would have been rectified at future performances – I did find myself leaning forward to hear once or twice.

Viewing the show as a whole, though, these are minor quibbles, and the whole team can be justly proud of their achievement.

Well done to all at EODS for putting together a thoroughly professional and entertaining show!

Xanadu, by the way, was an inspired choice for the list of musicals, but if you think that was tricky, you try coming up with an ‘X’ word to use in the context of a review (shame there were no xylophones in the show!)

Yet all was not quite done once the curtain fell, as Andy Brown, NODA Regional Councillor, presented the group with the award for Best Concert in District Five 2019, for ‘So That’s What We Call Musicals’.

Zoom has, happily, begun to fading into the rear view mirror, and it was great to join EODS in person for an excellent night of entertainment – thanks!

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