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Chapter 2 "Sweet Charity"
20th October, 2005 - Video We had a video evening on the 12th of October, where the whole cast could see their endeavours in "Business Affairs", mercilessly captured on candid camera! We all roared with laughter when at a crucial point, just before the end of a brilliant act 1, the Viva Espania theme tune blared out, instead of a doorbell! The situation was brilliantly retrieved by Stanley. The scantily clad ladies could see just how alluring they'd looked and the scantily clad men could see just how un- alluring they'd looked! Well, I mean, an Iron man's hat and a bunch of grapes doesn't do it for me! The local Guardian critics report was very good and I'm over the moon for everyone as they made me laugh every single night! In fact on the Thursday night the laughter went on so long, that it stopped the show and it was a very simple, suggestive joke that did it ( it's the way you tell 'em!) Well that's another production over and last night we had the first rehearsal for "Sweet Charity" I'm back in the chorus once again, my directing duties behind me but I now have the fun and games of the wardrobe to arrange. Hippy hair, flowers, chains, mini's, Mary Quant "Oh yes I remember it well" I'm sorry to say!! Here's a quiz for those of you who also remember it well, or at least think that you do!
2nd November 2005 - Casualty Last week my diary was brought to a standstill by an accident. An elder member had near amputated her leg in the car park and had young male ambulance attendants seeing to her blood soaked leg! A scene right out of a horror movie. What some people will do for attention. Anyway I'm pleased to say that after waiting in casualty for hours, she was patched up and pronounced fit to go home. I think that the doctor, in awe of the detailed hospital record that was produced from her handbag, dating back to pre war, didn't want to add any more than a line to it in case it was used to end his career!! I arrived home in the early hours without having sung a note but safe in the knowledge that we live to sing another day! This week back to normal. Audition pieces were distributed and the date set for the auditions is 30th November. We welcomed 2 new members, one young girl and one young man, things are looking up! 23rd November - Rhythm of Life Nothing to report over the previous weeks out of the ordinary. Plugging away at the music, as usual at this stage. I had a long weekend break in Cornwall. The weather was glorious here's a photo of Looe, where my Father in law lives. Went to rehearsal tonight and guess what. Since last week something's' clicked! No it 's not the sound of elderly joints it's the rhythm!. The music to Sweet Charity has a definite rhythm that is quite hard to get first of all. It's latin, then it's swing, then it's smooth etc. Tonight we got it by jove we got it and it sounded quite good. (great will follow ). Another young girl has joined ,that makes two, which is marvellous, Britney Spears eat your heart out Let's hope the lads follow! The auditions are next week and there's lots of competition so it should make for an entertaining evening. The auditions are open so we'll all get to clap and cheer them on. I've absolutely no idea how it will go. There's Mammy Brubeck as well as Daddy Brubeck auditioning. I'm not sure whether this is political correctness gone mad or the fact there there is a shortage of men! I heard a rumour that the producer is auditioning himself! All will be revealed next week so make a date to tune in and be
27.1.06 Happy -New Year!!!! Here we are in 2006. Happy New Year to you all!! Why haven't I updated my diary since last November? Well I had a really good Christmas and the times just flown by! The musicals going well so I'll bring you up to speed now and will make a resolution to dedicate time each week from now on. The audition evening was more like a variety night, as the standard was high and there were no shortage of performers. The most interesting audition being "Mama Brubeck" as opposed to " Daddy Brubeck" I must own up to being a "Mamma" myself however I'm glad to say that a real live "Daddy" emerged in time to save the day!! What a relief that the part of "Charity" drew enough interest from the female gender without the necessity to open the audition to men, or that really would have been interesting! We now have a strong cast and production is well underway. Someone asked me "How are you going to do the lake scene on your small stage?" (Charity has a scene where she falls in a lake and is rescued by passers by) What a silly question, I'll leave it to the producer to work that one out! In actual fact the lake is just off stage left, surprise surprise and charity emerges from the wings suitably soaked! There you are, a solution to every problem! We have new young members and they're very enthusiastic and lift the cast. The big spender number in the Fandango club is verrrrry sexy!! The girls look great ( I think they learnt a lot of moves from the previous play!) The pompeii Club scene requires a good dance routine. The trouble is that the routine is good but am I up to it? maybe not, I'll give it my best shot though. I'll have to renew my gym membership pronto! This June we're putting on a cabaret, running over 3 nights and I've a hand in the production. It's just 6 weeks after "Charity" and the Auditions are on the 4th February. There will be Full company chorus numbers, individual performances, comedy numbers and barber shop quartets. The songs will range from G&S to modern musicals like Les Miserables. We could end up with Macho cowboys singing "There's a coach coming in" opposed to dainty Japanese girls singing "braid the raven hair" Should be interesting!! It'll be hard work but great fun and I'll keep you posted of progress 5.2.06 - "zum cabaret" The auditions were held today for the cabaret evenings in June. I wish I could buy a ticket as it's going to be a lot of fun for the audience!! There were many acts of high quality but with such a wide range it'll be difficult to link them. But then again our MC is a master and I'm sure he'll do a spectacular job (serve him right for not turning up!) There was a song and dance duet, a beautiful operatic number from Carmen, a rendition of "Old man river" that shook the floor boards - where did he dig that bottom note up from! Private Willis from Iolanthe, Little Buttercup form HMS Pinafore, with some very strange produce in her designer bag. A Barry Manilow sing a like. He'll be glad to know that I didn't say look a like. A rendition of Maria from Westside Story that'll make you cry. Well I'm sure the high note brought tears to the eyes of the guy who performed it! There was a wonderful German song by Brahms, that needed an explanation first (unless you understand German of course) I still hadn't a clue even with the translation. The singer, a woman, is a lady and a man, at the same time, singing to her/himself!! Confused so were we! Add that to chorus numbers from Oklahoma, Pirates of Penzance, Sweet Charity and Les Miserables and we have a very interesting cabaret. Spiced up , of course, by beautiful dancing girls in skimpy costumes and handsome men not in skimpy costumes. That's a shame The Full Monty would have sold out! The costumes will be by the Trinny & Susannah of Chigwell. The Charity rehearsal was excellent. "Rhythm of Life" was set and we all had a great time! Some rediscovering the past and others discovering it! There's a saying "if you can remember the 60's you weren't there" I hope we remember it this week. 12.2.06 - Hippy paradise Concentrated our efforts on "The Rhythm of Life" Daddy's getting cooler by the second so he should be way out by April!!! He appeared to like the bit where two nubile young girls were crawling up his legs hand by hand. One of the girls having ,shortly before, dived from a stage block into the outstretched arms of 3 willing men and proceeded to "swim" in mid air. Now I'm not being sexist or anything but are there any Robbie Williams look a likes out there who would like to dive into my arms? I took my tape measure and started on the costume measurements.. Inside legs and all that jazz!! This is dangerous territory now. I don't want the tape measure near me until I've had a few more sessions at the Gym. I would say though, from the few I've taken, we have some damn good bodies in our society at the moment!! They've got the voices to match, which is secondary I know, but nevertheless very welcome! Moving on from there we had another Cabaret rehearsal, after the musical rehearsal and discovered that we could nearly remember what was learnt the previous Sunday!! Given the circumstances that's very good. 19.2.2006 A bright star in heaven Coney Island came to life in mime! There are no attractions. The "Ferris Wheel" is represented by a couple of seats on which perch Charity and Oscar, gripping across them for dear life!, a black painted stick! The popcorn sellers wares are all imaginary and the people stare up into space, pointing and looking at what could be an alien sighting but it's Charity and Oscar, stuck at the top of the Ferris Wheel. "What's up officer?" is heard and then the people freeze. The lights dim and the spotlight is on Charity and Oscar! Voila! Coney Island comes to life with a lot of imagination, very little props and no scenery. Who said we couldn't perform "Sweet Charity" on our small stage? Bring it on!! We had some sad news. Phyll Romeril, affectionately known to all at Croads as "Aunty Phil" has passed away at the grand old age of 92. Phyll worked for the local Guardian newspaper group as a theatre critic. She was as bright as a button and was still working as a critic up to her death. She has not missed a performance of ours in many years and always gave an informative and fair report. I'm sure she'll be a bright star in heaven herself now. 19.3.06 It'll be all right on the night! Box office 01277 362697 tickets £7.00 I had a delivery of wigs this week. Afro's so big you have difficulty finding the person underneath, hippy hair long and lanky, pink fun bobs and my favourite a black rock wig, very sexy!! Unfortunately the wigs I got for Charity make her look like a granny - her words- so I'm back to the drawing board, such is life! We started from act 1 and I think that it went very well! This is shaping up nicely! I have a dancing part in the Pompeii club and have been exercising my upper thighs, so as not to fall over when "trying" to get up from a kneeling stance. I won't let you in on the secret but it worked!! I got up without any embarrassing problem. The scenery is getting there. Well basically it's a black set. I mean everything black! So much so that we've got through gallons of black paint and guess what, I've got Charity a black dress . She'll look like one of those weird puppet shows! No don't panic there's other colour in accessories and stage dressing etc. Help!! Charity has a huge part and is coping well with learning all the words and the songs which are very difficult actually. I hope that I can provide costumes to enhance the performances. I'm worried now as always! I've found that I don't have a named part but have more costumes doing bits and pieces than I did last year when doing a named part! The same goes for all of the "bit parts" The costume plot is complicated to say the least! Oh what the hell everyone will just yell at me if I've got it wrong and I'll be running around at the last minute. It'll be all right on the night! 28.3.2006 Sex in the City The rehearsal last Wednesday showed us all what a great show this has the potential to be. Everyone's giving 100%, however we still need to up the ante! The hostess girls will wow our audience and there's a few guy's, that the ladies in the audience could swoon over. Given that the average age of our audience, on a good night, is about 50 they could be having a hot flush but I'll give the benefit of the doubt! The black set now has the odd splash of red and white by way of props. I'm dying to see the effect with all of the costumes. Am crossing everything in the hope that the costumes fit everyone, I'm particularly concerned over 2 men that have very large heads ( no, not that they'll behave like prima donnas, but that they have to wear wigs and hats!) I have already earmarked one with the very large afro! I went to view the costumes last week and Charity's dress caused concern. Team that with the wig I got her and it'll look like the "dinner lady" version of Sweet Charity. Thank goodness for ebay! A gorgeous red wig and a nice little black and red swirly dress. to the rescue. Charity now looks like a New Yorker, a real sizzler! Last rehearsal on Wednesday and we have to get all through from start to finish so I'll let you know how it goes. The first night is Wednesday 5th April 4.4.2006 Ready steady go Plenty of work to do on the costumes! The girls were mix and matching their dresses. They had to try to get one's to fit that looked half way decent! (No complaints from the fellers on that score) I had to resort to scouring the charity shops for outfits and found some amazing bits that will be useful in the next Cabaret we do. I had to sew on a nice piece of black see through sequined material ( from the bottom of one of our stage curtains!!) to the bottom of a hostess dress, for modesty purposes! I'd seen more material in a bikini than on that dress! The wigs looked great on the men "Ozzie Osbourne and "Fuzzie bear"eat your heart out" The bandsmen looked like refugees from Fred Scuttle's band but with a little practice of the footwork and a bit of oomph! they'll have the ladies eating out of their hands. Charity has a tremendous part and is doing a great job and the girls at the Fandango club are giving it their all and look fabulous. I love Daddy Brubeck with his two funky assistants. Yeah Daddy!!!! The technical rehearsal was a marathon! Past midnight and all was not well! No fairy Godmother to the rescue here! The dress rehearsal went a little better and everyone had put in a fantastic amount of work. So now we have a show bring on the first night. The costumes ,by the way, now look fantastic! 6.4.2006 -Charity is sweet on eye and ear........... In the words of the Recorder Theatre review! Marc Walker form the Ilford Recorder came on the opening night and it's just as well we didn't know backstage ! The first night saw Charity in film star's Vidal's wardrobe when the clothes rail collapsed. Charity had to do a quick DIY job it in full view of the audience (well it was a comedy moment) The black scene stage curtain come off it's runners at the end of act 1. The interval was taken up by hippies climbing ladders to do quick repairs to the curtain rail. To top it all I ran on stage up onto the apron, in the YMCA scene and fell flat on my face. I did spring up amazingly quickly ( no I hadn't been indulging in the evil weed!) and delivered my lines to perfection ( in fact the only time I got them right!) None of those things mattered in the end because Wow did we have a hit on our hands!! "The razzmatazz of Manhattan came to The Victory Hall ", again in Marc's words. Charity and the hostess girls were fantastic and looked fantastic especially in "Big Spender". Charity was a huge part and very demanding. The " If they could see me now" routine was so energetic! The psychedelic rhythm of life was a fantastic chorus number filled with colour and fun Daddy was really cool! The costumes looked amazing against the black. Our Ozzie Ozbourne look a like got laughs as did Daddy and his assistants The black painted sticks used for the Ferris wheel and on the subway worked a treat, which just goes to prove what the imagination can do!. Vidal and his starlet girlfriend Ursula looked a million dollars. A big thanks to Phil, who wore his own suits, otherwise he would not have looked so suave, more like dressed by "Oxfam." Ursula's dress was pure retro starlet though! Oscars and Charity's outfits looked great and they went so well together, that all my near nervous breakdowns were unfounded! Thanks to our producer for the foresight and determination to stage this musical at our small venue. I would've hated to miss the party!!! Our new members had their baptism of fire and really enjoyed themselves, lets hope that they stay with us, as they added so much to the show. Youth beauty and enthusiasm to name but three. No time to self indulge ourselves with a video evening this time, as we have a "Summer Cabaret" to put on in 6 weeks time!! I'm co producing and have some serious work to do so bye bye Sweet Charity it's been very nice knowing you!!!!!
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