The Wedding Singer

Pilkington Musical Theatre Company.

New to the Amateur circuit “The Wedding Singer” could be a challenge to the bravest of companies, but Pilkington M T C were obviously not phased by the prospect of doing justice to this refreshingly well written piece, adapted from the original film.

If there could ever be a chance for a Society to show off their Musical Theatre skills, then this certainly fit’s the bill !   With a wonderful recipe of superb Direction by Simon Foster, who is obviously highly experienced and brilliant Choreography to match any West End production , along with a cast that oozed excitement, energy, warmth and effervescence presented a result of which was anything but amateur and was simply fantastic !!

I could see that everyone concerned had been totally dedicated in getting this spot on .The casting was perfect ,with some remarkable performances from Michael John Griesen and Katie Speakman, their acting and singing abilities were truly outstanding and they were a perfect match in their two lead roles.

The Supporting characters were equally tremendous and gave some fantastic performances, particularly Anthony Mackin and Jean Aspinall, both having superb timing and comedic acting skills essences of “Boy George” and “Julie Walters” me thinks!!  Every piece of this show was skilfully executed, and the whole cast made good use of the stage at every opportunity great attention to detail, that had obviously been well drilled by the dynamic Production Team !!

The Set was excellent ,scene changes were seamless and well thought out as were the Costumes, which looked really authentic and gave me a little de ja vu moment from the 80’s !

Sound and particularly Lighting had a few gremlins on the night that I attended, particularly the follow spot lighting a cast member doing nothing leaving the Cast member doing the main action completely unlit this often happens when the “Professional” Theatre state that their own staff are used, they don’t know the Show and they haven’t got the first notion of what is going on on Stage.

I feel that it’s such a shame that the company has to pay for this, after so many weeks of hard work and dedication and has no control over things like this that can let them down. However, now that I have had a rant, I really do have to say that the professionalism of Pilkington M.T.C. over came any issues, performed their socks off and should be immensely proud of their achievements and performances that gave the audience a wonderful piece of Musical Theatre.

My sincerest Congratulations to the Committee, Production Team, Cast, Crew and Front of House for such a great success - truly worthy of the ovation that you received !

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