We're Still Here

As a ‘welcome back to live theatre’, Saint Dunstan’s AO&DS are shouting from the rooftops… “We’re Still Here!” with their celebration of showtunes, contemporary and traditional, to help us climb out of Covidville with a glimpse of normality and much-loved escapism through the medium of Musical Theatre. As I’m getting to know this group rather well and already know the style that the musical director of this company likes and dislikes, when seeing the title of this concert ahead of seeing the show I couldn’t prevent ‘I’m Still Here’ from ‘Follies’ humming around in my head, secretly hoping the song would feature in the show but quickly tossed that thought aside as never in a million years would I have expected it to feature, given Mr Barry’s strong feelings on Sondheim’s music and knowing the strength of sway he has within this company, there’s not a chance in hell that I’d envisage any of Mr Sondheim’s works to appear… how wrong was I!? Although it was just the one, the song did indeed feature but it was also the equivalent of the eleven o’clock number, a pinnacle feature in the evenings line-up towards the end of the show performed impressively by Sue Milligan, with the highly appreciated amendment to the lyric to refer to Boris, something that one could only get away with in a revue / out of context performance, loved it, completely hit the nail on the head with this – terrific!  

 

Chairman and matinee idol for St Dunstan’s, Philip Callaghan, held proceedings together as the ultimate host and compare, all taken very much in his easy stride while also being unable to resist chucking a few musical numbers into the pot for himself, and nor would we want him too, especially as I believe this production offered the finest vocal performance I’ve heard from him to date with his ‘Oklahoma!’ ballad ‘Oh What A Beautiful Mornin’’ being a particular stand out.

 

The staging and presentation of the revue was less traditional than I’d anticipated, I suppose I was expecting black curtains and static microphones placed along the apron but instead we got a black box set with fixed entrances with a couple of raised levels up-stage, all very simple but enough to keep us interested and work as a sophisticated backdrop for the evening.

 

As ever with revue productions, they give the opportunity for those who may wish to dip their toe in and have a go at holding a song by themselves without having to commit to a principal role, one of the soloists should perhaps have had their quantity of features reduced or have been given songs that were in their capability but non-the-less, the overall quality from the featured soloists was of a high calibre.

Performing as a feature soloist in a revue can feel immensely exposing, not too dissimilar to an audition in many respects as there’s nothing but the performer and their voice on display, all soloists should be commended as at no point did I ever sense any nerves from anyone which instantly puts us at ease and is an example of how comfortable and well-rehearsed they all must have been.

 

The next layer, one which I felt would have enhanced the delivery of some parts, would have been guidance – for some – to act the song too, some parts of the evening did convey more of a vocal recital than a ‘performance’ with character not being a prominent enough feature which had (and at times did) portray a rendition without the flavour it could have had. These are songs from musicals that have been written FOR characters, if characters are missing then the song is stripped of a crucial layer which I felt, at times, was forgotten.

 

The shows biggest star was undoubtedly sat in front of the stage, the 7 piece orchestra with musical director on keys. For the many virtues of a revue show, one of the biggest slugs is what the musical director is required to do behind the scenes as ultimately, so much of the show’s success relies on their level of input. It’s very rare to be treated to a pit of this size for a compilation show due to the expense and the work required, but I’m not complaining, I’m thankful as they were, as predicted, an absolute pleasure!

 

Costumes followed the pattern of what is traditionally done with concerts, black as a base with accent colours added throughout the course of the show… it works, it’s easy, it’s cost effective! I was thankful we didn’t get a programme for the evening featuring sections that resemble mini trailers to shows, something that’s done all too often which I find rather tiresome, this was more eclectic and fortunately thought through much better than that, it didn’t require themes or an idea to create chapters, it was a far more refined presentation, without gimmicks, which enabled the strengths of the company to be showcased.       

 

Technically, the sound for soloists was clear and well balanced with the musos though more amplification for the ensemble numbers would’ve been beneficial, I could just hear faint harmonies during full company numbers, they were some simplified lines there, just distant. Lighting design was more adventurous than what we see with most concerts which was refreshing despite a couple of sticky hiccups where recovery attempts were blatant though I sensed these weren’t due to any fault of the tech but more of a ‘they’ve not hit their mark so aren’t lit’ issue.

 

Congratulations to everyone involved. It’s often worthwhile for me to point out to readers of my reviews that every production comes with its gripes be it professional or amateur. Unfortunately, it’s my duty to dissect and lay out the warts an’ all no matter how minor they may seem to be which is the burden of elimination and the obligation of adjudication. Faults can be found in anything if examined hard enough, regrettably (as an adjudicator) they’re for me to dig out and weigh up. But overall, regardless of the occasional bleat pinpointed above this production undoubtedly did what it set out to do, entertained your supporters and got your members back on stage doing what they love while highlighting the strengths of your troupe. I thoroughly enjoyed the evening, and I, for one, am certainly glad that ‘you’re still here!’

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