Whistle Down The Wind

I well remember the original film of 1961 so I was eager to enjoy my introduction to the musical of Whistle Down The Wind and spend my evening with a company whose work can be relied upon to be entertaining.  Immediately I was impressed by the spectacular SET that used rough sawn timber to give a rustic feel to the flats, the doors, and the scaffolding and well depicted the barn and countryside scenes.  It wrapped around the audience with steps up on each side and was well used to provide multiple areas of differing levels to create interest and variety of staging. The huge doors at centre stage proved to be on a revolve that turned regularly and with silent ease to indicate inside or outside the barn.  Subsequently scenes were dressed with the addition of benches for the church, table and chairs for the home.  The stage right flat opened smoothly to reveal a well stocked bar complete with neon sign, while that stage left craftily hid a kitchen, and large simple block boxes trucked in provided a river bank, the outside of a front door and stage for the revivalist meeting.   Cast members, including the children, carried out the changes speedily, faultlessly, and with great frequency in well-directed and under-scored crossovers, as the action called for many short scenes in rapid succession.  The excellence of this set’s design kept its biggest secret to the end when the impact of the fire trough drew gasps of wonder from the audience.   Wow!! 

The action started without ceremony as benches were brought in and a church congregation gathered before they sang the rousing opening number.  Let’s acknowledge straight away that I saw the show on the night that the SOUND went wrong!  These things happen – and to your credit you did the only thing possible, which was to stop the show and restart it after the fault was rectified.   As a result we were treated to a reprise of Vaults of Heaven and Ed’s rich solo, and the cast is to be commended for the commitment and energy they brought to the second start when they must have felt quite unsettled by the ‘hiccup’.  The band, split to sit half each side of the stage high up on the scaffolding, was well selected by the experienced MD to provide a really full sound despite its modest size, and the balance with the voices was, for the most part, comfortable.  Not all of the children’s lines were clear and it wasn’t possible for me to tell whether it because they weren’t mic’d, and/or couldn’t project, or because the mics were not turned up swiftly enough when they each had a single line in turn.

The masterly LIGHTING plot added so much to the drama of this show with moody changes of subdued colours, flashes and washes of brilliant reds and blues and skillfully placed spots that backlit the singers in shafts of ‘heavenly’ light, echoing and underpinning the pseudo religious sentiments embodied in the storyline.  Wire-caged bulkhead lights dotted the walls and gave a visible light source to illuminate the inside of the barn and were just so appropriate for this setting.  The set disappeared into a black blanket of shadow for the exciting motorbike and railway tunnel scenes assisting our belief in the new environment and, in contrast, follow spots picked out individuals and focused our attention on intimate solos.  The dramatic fire effect of the finale was nothing short of spectacular and rightly amazed the audience. 

The CHOREOGRAPHY made no great demands on the mixed cast.  The Waitresses had a line dance routine to perform but most movement was confined to careful groupings and simple steps, especially when the children were involved.  Even so, swaying in time to the music and each other seems to defeat some of the youngsters in the front row with no one to copy!  The staging without dance of the musical numbers was slick and used the various areas and levels so we were never looking at an overcrowded stage and the motorbike offered the chance to give Candy and Amos some really raunchy rock ‘n roll movement.

DIRECTION – There was so much that was good in so many areas of this production where to start?  As director you gathered around you a highly dedicated and skilled team of department heads who have all been doing this a long time.  You must have excellent communication skills to be able to share your vision with them all as efficiently as is evident by the tightness of the production.   Finding your Swallow must have been uppermost in your mind and you were immensely lucky to draw this talented girl to your company.  She had the physical bearing and apparent naivety to be convincing as a girl younger than herself.  The voices of Swallow, The Man and Amos blended beautifully in their many numbers together and indeed all principals delivered the music, which I thought was not easy to sing, with exceptional conviction.  I found the two scenes when Swallow and The Man shared a kiss particularly touching.  You found a way to highlight the contrast between their differing expectations on each occasion and the tension developed into a tenderly moving moment. HTC truly is a company that can be proud of its achievements.  Your audience is loyal and warmly receptive but I do wish we could stop the practice of standing ovations that seems to be obligatory, and parochial, for amateur performances in Cornwall these days.  Any staged or choreographed ending to the show is invisible to anyone who doesn’t want to or can’t stand – but maybe that’s just my opinion.

 

 

 

 

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