The World Goes Round
Information
- Date
- 21st October 2022
- Society
- Littlehampton Players Operatic Society
- Venue
- The Windmill Theatre, Littlehampton
- Type of Production
- Musical Revue
- Co-Directors
- Simon Jones & Daniel Paine
- Musical Director
- Daniel Paine
This show started life in 1991 at the Westside Theatre, Manhattan, New York. The content of this musical collection of John Kander and Fred Ebb songs was then extended and became the current show. There is no story to the production but it groups together many parts of life including love, marriage, humour, happiness, sadness and celebration.
The set was a nightclub and bar, the latter being on an extension to the Windmills’s normal stage, thereby leaving more room for the choreography in the full company numbers. This was very cleverly done and very effective in view of the limited space between all the tables and chairs.
The Musical Director and his six musicians made a brilliant accompaniment to the twenty-nine songs, of which I only knew seven. Of those seven, some had been enhanced by a musical re-vamp with complicated harmonies and time variations. The singers did an exemplary performance of those enhanced songs.
All the soloists had good voices that suited their particular song but I will mention the ones that appealed to me. A sad but very tuneful melody, “My Colourng Book” by Pat Thompsett. Simon Jones renditition of “Sara Lee” and “We Can Make It” were excellent. “Isn’t This Better” by Kaylee Raynsford with its solitary piano backing for most of the song was a musical gem in the midst of all the upbeat numbers for the majority of the show. Just two more solos than need a star mention were “Kiss of the Spider Woman” by David Upcraft and “Mr. Cellophane” by James Mitchell. A new song for me was “Class”, and its delightful and very cleverly written lyrics were performed really well by Sue Knight, Kathy Kearl, Caroline Baylis and Kaylee Raynsford. Chorus songs, “Yes”, “All that Jazz”, “The Money Song”, “Cabaret” and “NewYork, New York” were performed with gusto and glitz - most enjoyable.
Congratulations to all on stage, backstage and production/technical team for a thoroughly entertaining and uplifting evening.
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