A New Page for Pastiche
The page turned for the Pastiche Musical Theatre Company at the end of July, with Roma Ridley taking over the reins from her Mother, Jean Hobson, who had overseen productions for 20 years.
Roma, working with Musical Director Jean George proved that they could maintain those high standards with an excellent, light-hearted Musical Mischief show featuring some superb performances from the Company. Considering this is an amateur Company who only rehearse a very limited number of hours per week the quality of the overall performance was outstanding with an energetic cast who were thoroughly enjoying themselves, evident by the smiling, enthusiastic faces on stage throughout.
The two, hour-long Acts contained a varied mix performances from dancers, singers and musical instruments to the varied tastes of the young and old.
The evening started strongly with an entertaining opening ‘Broadway Medley’, which gave all the singers a chance to warm up their vocal chords and show off some well timed choreography (which proved to be of a high quality and varied throughout the show- including novelty acts such as a glow in the dark hand jive)!
The costumes have always been an impressive ingredient of Pastiche’s shows and the opening chorus was followed by a number which gave us our first taste of what was to come - a Lion King inspired lion’s outfit worn by the lead Duncan. He, Megan and Molly showed a glimpse of the future - next stop the X Factor perhaps?!
The Company were soon back on stage with Ben leading a confident rendition of ‘The Candy Man’. This young man is a valuable new addition to The Company, looking clearly comfortable on stage and delivering a high quality first performance.
Several entertaining numbers followed, including a funny rendition of ‘Plant A Radish’ led by Maxwell and Brian, a humorous and assured Mrs Worthington from Bryan, a passionate performance of ‘Gimme, Gimme, Gimme’ by Shivashtie, Debbie and Stephanie (who goes from strength to strength in every Pastiche show), a faultless Trumpet piece from Max that brought even further variation to the show, followed by a moment of pure class with Naomi playing a beautiful piece on her violin. Entitled ‘Meditation’, the soaring music was perfectly complemented by Megan’s confident ballet steps in the background.
Male attention in the audience was then peaked with a saucy ‘Lady Marmalade’, performed by Claire, Jenny and Gilly, who also choreographed the raucous routine.
The first half concluded with the Company performing the 60’s rock number ‘Proud Mary’ before everyone took a well-earned 15 minute breather.
Act Two kicked off with another ‘Broadway Medley’, before Richard Connolly continued the American theme with a fantastic rendition of ‘Mr Bojangles’. Richard was clearly very comfortable on stage and had a number of ladies in the audience swooning with his swagger and cheeky smile. The performance was also visually entertaining as Richard was accompanied on stage by an ever bright and talented Melanie James who showed through her tap routine that she is an accomplished dancer as well as singer.
One of the high points of the evening was yet to come however, as Naomi performed a show-stopping rendition of ‘Over The Rainbow’, delivering the tricky piece note-perfect and leaving the audience in awe! Other stand out vocals came from two Company members who never fail to deliver professional standard performances- Claire singing The Wizard and I from Wicked and Olivia who silenced the audience with I Don’t Know How To Love Him.
With the final ensemble number ‘Never Forget’ raising the roof, the crowd clapped their way off into the night, discussing highlights and favourite numbers from the varied programme.
As ever, the performances helped raise funds for a good cause, with The Dyspraxia Foundation being the worthy beneficiary on this occasion. After the success of the show, there will not be much rest for Roma, Jean and the Company, as they start to rehearse soon for their eagerly awaited next show - Carousel - which will premiere in March 2012. On this evidence, it cannot come around quick enough!
Tessa Wright
The page turned for the Pastiche Musical Theatre Company at the end of July, with Roma Ridley taking over the reins from her Mother, Jean Hobson, who had overseen productions for 20 years.
Roma, working with Musical Director Jean George proved that they could maintain those high standards with an excellent, light-hearted Musical Mischief show featuring some superb performances from the Company. Considering this is an amateur Company who only rehearse a very limited number of hours per week the quality of the overall performance was outstanding with an energetic cast who were thoroughly enjoying themselves, evident by the smiling, enthusiastic faces on stage throughout.
The two, hour-long Acts contained a varied mix performances from dancers, singers and musical instruments to the varied tastes of the young and old.
The evening started strongly with an entertaining opening ‘Broadway Medley’, which gave all the singers a chance to warm up their vocal chords and show off some well timed choreography (which proved to be of a high quality and varied throughout the show- including novelty acts such as a glow in the dark hand jive)!
The Company were soon back on stage with Ben leading a confident rendition of ‘The Candy Man’. This young man is a valuable new addition to The Company, looking clearly comfortable on stage and delivering a high quality first performance.
Several entertaining numbers followed, including a funny rendition of ‘Plant A Radish’ led by Maxwell and Brian, a humorous and assured Mrs Worthington from Bryan, a passionate performance of ‘Gimme, Gimme, Gimme’ by Shivashtie, Debbie and Stephanie (who goes from strength to strength in every Pastiche show), a faultless Trumpet piece from Max that brought even further variation to the show, followed by a moment of pure class with Naomi playing a beautiful piece on her violin. Entitled ‘Meditation’, the soaring music was perfectly complemented by Megan’s confident ballet steps in the background.
Male attention in the audience was then peaked with a saucy ‘Lady Marmalade’, performed by Claire, Jenny and Gilly, who also choreographed the raucous routine.
The first half concluded with the Company performing the 60’s rock number ‘Proud Mary’ before everyone took a well-earned 15 minute breather.
Act Two kicked off with another ‘Broadway Medley’, before Richard Connolly continued the American theme with a fantastic rendition of ‘Mr Bojangles’. Richard was clearly very comfortable on stage and had a number of ladies in the audience swooning with his swagger and cheeky smile. The performance was also visually entertaining as Richard was accompanied on stage by an ever bright and talented Melanie James who showed through her tap routine that she is an accomplished dancer as well as singer.
One of the high points of the evening was yet to come however, as Naomi performed a show-stopping rendition of ‘Over The Rainbow’, delivering the tricky piece note-perfect and leaving the audience in awe! Other stand out vocals came from two Company members who never fail to deliver professional standard performances- Claire singing The Wizard and I from Wicked and Olivia who silenced the audience with I Don’t Know How To Love Him.
With the final ensemble number ‘Never Forget’ raising the roof, the crowd clapped their way off into the night, discussing highlights and favourite numbers from the varied programme.
As ever, the performances helped raise funds for a good cause, with The Dyspraxia Foundation being the worthy beneficiary on this occasion. After the success of the show, there will not be much rest for Roma, Jean and the Company, as they start to rehearse soon for their eagerly awaited next show - Carousel - which will premiere in March 2012. On this evidence, it cannot come around quick enough!
Tessa Wright
