Mad About Musicals. A Review

 

Photo taken by Chris Whippet through the Creative Commons License

 
As a young kid, I didn't like musicals. If you told me what I thought about Frozen, i'd probably say it's too girly. Now, as a mature young adult, I like musicals. Productions like Wicked, Hamilton, Les Miserables and more have shown me that you could convey a story with the use of singing and lyrics.

So, on the 16th June, I went to see a show called Mad About Musicals. It was performed at an Arts Centre in Pershore called Number 8. It may look small on the outside, yet inside it's a beautiful place for local entertainment, movies and arts.

The people behind the production was a group called the Pershore Operatic Drama Society (PODS). It consists of 45 ordinary people who have an interest in acting, singing and entertaining. One of my friends, Sam Godber, invited me and my friend to watch. I agreed to go watch and enjoy what PODS had to offer. I had not watched a local performance since I watched a pantomime in Malvern at 11 years old.

7:30 pm. Lights go off. The show starts with a rendition of 'Pure Imagination' and ends with a man wearing a white tuxedo welcoming us to the show. Good start? Well just you wait when they start singing 'Opening Up' from Waitress. It's a positive song to kick the show off and all of the actors and actresses were gleeful.

The next song was 'Tell Me It's Not True' from Blood Brothers, proving that the show isn't shying away from darker musical numbers.

My personal favourite from Act 1 was 'All That Jazz' from Chicago. Funny I say this because I've never watched Chicago. But that does not matter, the acting and singing on this song was great. It actually almost felt like I wasn't in Pershore but in Broadway. Yes, it's that good from a local drama society.

After that come a few songs from musicals such as Rent (made famous again after the Neflix movie 'Tick Tick Boom'), South Pacific (a Rogers & Hammerstein classic), another song from Chicago and (surprisingly) 'With You' from Ghost: The Musical. Even if there is a lot of movies that adapted into musicals recently, at least they manage to adapt it respectfully with some classic songs. 'With You' is perfectly performed by Suzie Tapley and another great highlight from Act 1.

Songs from 42nd Street, Chicago, Anything Goes, Wicked and Ragtime are performed with success (Especially Jmaes Megary's baritone voice). However, 'Ex Wives' from Six pleased me too. The song is basically a summary of Henry the 8th's six wives done as a pop song. It's very clever and PODS yet again know how to adapt it for themselves.

Act 2 begins after a 15 minute intermission. Kicking off with 'You Will Be Found', the actors and actresses start off great. But just you wait when Briony Stevens and Paul Tapley perform 'The Phantom of the opera'. That's an amazing performance right there. It made me see it as some sort of passing the baton of one generation to another.

Performances of songs from Jersey Boys, Chicago, Hamilton, a medley of We Will Rock You, Dreamgirls and Pretty Woman occur, with a lot of people on the audience standing up dancing to the music.

Two highlights were 'Stars' and 'When You Believe'. What was interesting about 'Stars' was that the conductor, Andrew Hemming, also sang along with David, James, Paul and Steve. An amazing rendition of the song from Les Miserables. It's followed up by 'When You Believe' from Prince of Egypt. I remember watching the Prince of Egypt movie as a kid and this performance gave me flashbacks. A very effective performance from everyone on that song.

The last five songs are sang including songs from Rent, Best Little Whorehouse From Texas, Catch Me If You Can, Les Miserables and Hairspray.

The Les Miserables medley was yet another phenomenal company performance. I wish I knew the names of songs as of writing because there are so many songs in the musical. However, I do remember 'I Dreamed A Dream', which was sung beautifully. The medley ends with one of the actors dressed up as a French Soldier waving the national flag of France, a nice touch to the performance.

And finally, 'Can't Stop the Beat' from Hairspray is the last song to be performed. This was the happiest of all performances and ended off with bows and curtsys from all performers. I stood up and clapped along to the song, knowing that PODS had done a great job with the entire show.

At the end, I met up with Sam in the foyer and congratulated him on his singing and performing. He was really glad to see me there. Others I met after the show included Andrew Hemming, who seemed glad to have conducted another successful show. Julie Hemming and her daughter Claire met up with me and congratulated them. James Megary was glad to hear my opinions on the show, his singing was great on 'Make Them Hear You'. And lastly, the West Midlands Head of NODA was also there and complimented PODS on their show.

Everyone part of PODS performed great, proving that anyone can act and join a drama society.

Overall, I am thankful I went to watch Mad About Musicals because it shows that you don't have to always go to the West End or Broadway to watch musicals. It's rewarding to go watch local dramatic societies as they consist of ordinary people looking to entertain local people that are looking for some entertainment. I was one of those local people and I for one can safely say that this was a spectacular performance from the Pershore Operatic Dramatic Society.

Can't wait to see what's next.

Score

Performances: 9     Stage: 8     Singing: 9     Environment: 10

Overall: 36/40