Musicals & Operettas 

The rehearsals have been exhausting!! Everyone, without exception, is putting so much effort and commitment into this production it's  a marvellous team effort!  We've had 6 weeks to get this together, no mean feat, and we're almost there. This is one exceptional value for money production.  I'm very proud of it so  have no hesitation in saying get your tickets now if you haven't already!!!

We have women dressed as men, men dressed as women, sailors, pirates, hostesses with the mostest, tap dance, magic tricks to rival David Blane (no water of course) opera, comedy sketches, music hall, good ol' Blue eyes,  the magic of Manilow, big production numbers from Oklahoma and Les Miserables and of course the fabulous Rhythm of Life. 

Better than the Royal Command Performance in fact! It's  dress rehearsal this week which should be very interesting.  We won't know which dressing room is the Ladies and which is the men's, with all the cross dressing going on!  They'll be as much entertainment backstage as out front!!  I'll let you know how it goes after next Wednesday.

9th June    Cabaret Nites First nite nerves (England awaits)

First nite last nite and it went great!! I was nervous for everyone without cause ( there was a worrying moment when I opened my mouth and only a croak came out! - such is life - I overcame it eventually and will drink water and gargle a lot today!

Our compere carried the very varied programme from one number to the next with ease ,even slipping in the odd magic trick here and there.  He had some extra work explaining the complicated system for ordering drinks. On each table is a notepad pencil and England flag. You write the drinks order and wave the flag, then your order will be collected and delivered to your table- simple? Well not quite. No payment changes hands, as the secretary omitted to apply for a drinks licence, so we then have to sell raffle tickets for a fantastic portable DVD, in order to recoup some revenue. There is no compulsion to buy raffle tickets and the drinks will be free.  The explanation of that, held the start of the show up by 5 minutes! !

There is a small matter of England playing their first world cup game on Saturday 10th at 2 pm!  If we win I think there will be a lot of flag waving Saturday night!!

I promised to tell you about the dress/ technical  rehearsal Well it was frantic.  There were so many costumes on the rail in the ladies dressing room, that it was in danger of collapse!  That's not all. The suitcases and shoes on the floor proved a hazard  in the cramped space but there was an added obstacle. Scaffolding erected directly outside the fire door, was positioned just right to knock your block off!!

The men had it easy they had a wide open space outside the fire door and plenty of room to change.  They were most gentlemanly, in offering to accommodate any of the ladies who may wish to use their dressing room, though strangely this offer was not taken up!

There are 32 items on the programme so you can imagine that the technical rehearsal was very long. But everyone looked marvellous in the different costumes, the keyboard and the backing tracks sounded well balanced and most important of all, everyone put heart and soul in to it.

The guys who look after the Sound and lighting deserve a huge pat on the back!!!  Well done.

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