January 2003 - Region 10 - Peter Hendren
SOLID GOLD
Workington Am. Musical Soc.
A wonderful show celebrating 50 glorious years! The compilation concert cleverly blended old and new shows, which had all been done over the 50 years of existence.
So from the lilting melodies of the White Horse Inn and the Desert Song we progressed to The Merry Widow. In this we heard a superb performance of 'Villia' from Florence Ellwood, who was singing leads 50 years ago. An object lesson in singing technique!
The dancers were very well drilled in their speciality shows like Crazy For You and 42nd Street, and melodies were not forgotten as they gave us Rodgers and Hammerstein favourites, too.
Two moving harmonic ensembles from Fiddler on the Roof were 'Sabbath Prayer' and 'Tradition' and this last epitomised the proud record of the society over 50 years.
It was an especial pleasure to present three 50-year, two 40-year and one 15-year medal at the close of the last performance of Solid Gold.
SMIKE
Whitehaven A.O.S. Junior Section
The story was new to me in this musical form. It was an entertaining evening with exuberant youngsters singing vigorously under MD Joan Morris and well organised by the director Lisa Anderson.
The entire chorus had a chance to shine and each had their own character especially in the concentrated numbers.
The principals were competent in speech and some pleasant singing was heard. A notable exception was Mrs Squeers (Becky Hardman) who spoke very clearly and whose singing was exceptional - a lovely sweet voice.
Her song where she makes a great play for Nicholas was acted and sung beautifully - and she's only 21!
The chorus was lively and really enjoyed "Dotheboys Rock" which was reprised as a great show-ending number, too.
The set was simple but the changes/transitions were too long and the pace dropped. However, the audience was mightily entertained and went home happy.
MY FAIR LADY
Workington A.O.S.
A smash show from this highly organised Society! I'll admit that this is one of my favourite musicals, and am very familiar with the clever words and tuneful melodies. Thus it was with great pleasure that that I enjoyed this show hugely from the Workington A.O.S. cast.
Obviously the star roles are those of Higgins and Eliza, and here, Tex Houghton and Keri Farish excelled. Just occasionally I had difficulty in making out the witty words of the early songs from Tex, a very minor point in a polished performance.
Keri Farish was a revelation! New to the society but with a strong family tradition (especially of this show), she was superb in every way. Her words were crystal clear, in both the cockney and the 'cut-glass' accents. Then a fine singing voice was topped off with good looks too - she captured all hearts!
I liked Roger Wilson as Doolittle, also a very convincing character, and the confident voice of Steve Whetton, another newcomer, made "On the street where you live" memorable for me. It was difficult therefore in the face of all these good performances, for the lesser parts and the chorus to shine also, but all showed great teamwork. The movement and dancing were exemplary and worthily complimented the strong principals.
This was another excellent production from Producer Ed McGee! The scenery was the only weak point of the evening. As it was fairly cumbersome to move on this small stage, and many changes were needed in each act, there were many 'blips' in the pace, whilst the scene was changed in the blackouts. The scenery staff worked their socks off to do quick, efficient changes, but the combination of heavy scenery in a 'non flyable' theatre did give too many breaks in the concentration.
Anthea Bremner as M.D. controlled a fine orchestra well, and the tempi were just right. A very fine show indeed - congratulations!