Skip to main content

Blitz! by the Northampton Musical Theatre Company at the Cripps Hall Theatre, Northampton

I came to Blitz! with zero knowledge of both the musical itself and the amateur group Northampton Musical Theatre Company performing it. It is safe to say that I left after almost three hours pleasantly surprised by both.

My live musical theatre viewing had amounted to just two previous, both in the last couple of months and I had been surprised how much I had enjoyed them, despite trepidation at the outset. Likewise my only previous example of an amateur theatre group had been of the Masque Theatre and they had been very good and set a high bar for NMTC to jump over.

I have to say, they cleared the bar with sufficient ease, with a quite stunning, polished and enjoyable show. The production was quite simply excellent with hardly a duff note to be heard. I think I would be fair to say that their also wasn't a duff performance amongst them. A few stuck out as being simply excellent, like Susie Pack (nee Lamb) as the loud and brazen Elsie, complete with eye popping swift dress off performance. Keith Loynes was also wonderful as the comical Ernie.

Also impressive as the lovers Georgie Locke and Carol Blitztein were Ian Stark and Lillian Thorn. However although I keep doing it (and I suppose I must), I do hate singling out performers as this was a cast performance of great quality and for an amateur one, a wonderful commitment from all involved to get it to this standard.

The unfamiliar songs were tremendously well performed. Leave It To The Ladies a delight on the ear and eyes. Mums And Dads wonderful by the highly talented young stars {they got the biggest reaction of the night from the audience).

My pick of the songs though has to be Be What You Wanna Be, a great tune, and most entertainingly and professionally staged with the pause and move action of the main cast, and excellently sung by Becky Woodham (Mrs Blitztein). This one song summed the whole up for me, an absolute delight.

Music was supperbly performed from their orchestra pit and the staging was also solid and professional on the obvious lack of budgeting that must come with an amateur production. Likewise the front of house organisation was of the highest quality, with drinks, raffle and display in abundance.

All in all the whole evening was of the utmost quality from arrival to departure and without doubt I shall be at the Royal & Derngate in October/November when their production of South Pacific hits the stage. Just wonderful and well done to ALL involved. I believe a roll-call is required:



Blitz! has now finished, however you can find details of the Northampton Musical Theatre Company at their website: http://www.nmtc.me.uk/, which will also provide details of their next show South Pacific, to be staged in October/November 2014.

Labels:

Popular posts from this blog

Review of Of Mice And Men at Royal & Derngate (Royal), Northampton

Other than, randomly, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and The War of the Worlds , John Steinbeck's classic Of Mice and Men is perhaps one of the most familiar of stories to me. I have seen it several times before, and while at school, we studied it, and dissected it like the work of Mr Shakespeare, but with Steinbeck, I got out the other side still liking it. This brand new version from Selladoor Productions, which opened in Canterbury last week, brings a by-the-book presentation of the trials of George and his slow, but incredibly strong friend, Lennie, to the stage. Perhaps, this is its first issue blocking a huge success from this production, in that it rarely does anything brave or different. It's clearly been expertly cast visually, with the hulking form of Matthew Wynn as Lennie, and the diminutive (in comparison) Richard Keightley and Kamran Darabi-Ford as George and Curley respectively. Darabi-Ford especially perfect in his tremendously awkward scenes wit...
Read more

Review of Northern Ballet - The Great Gatsby at Milton Keynes Theatre

This production of The Great Gatsby performed by Northern Ballet was my fifth encounter at the theatre of a full ballet production and as before, I happily share my review of the show with nearly zero knowledge of-the-art form and more of a casual theatre-goer. You could say that this is a poor direction to come in on a review, but I would say that casual audience are the ones to review this for. Over the years, Northern Ballet has set quite a high benchmark for ballet productions, and any audience member who is worth their salt as a ballet fan would no doubt have tickets for this new touring version of the 2013 version of The Great Gatsby , lovingly created by David Nixon OBE. So much is Nixon part of the very fabric of this show, that he not only provides the choreography and direction but also the initial scenario and costume design (assisted by Julie Anderson). So, discounting those ballet fans already sitting in the audience, what does this offer for the more casual theatre-goer ...
Read more

Review of Flash Festival 2016: Red Inquisition by Memoir Theatre at Castle Hill URC

Red Inquisition from Memoir Theatre evolves from a theatre groups creation of a play based on the 1947 Hollywood blacklist and McCarthyism So that I can get it out the way early on and take this review in a more upbeat direction that Red Inquisition deserves, I am going to get a real bugbear done first. There was a huge negative for me from this production and one that I ended up getting negative vibes from. For me there was far too much video and audio footage in this production. Much of it was while excellently researched, surplus to requirements. The were a couple of occasions especially where we saw material repeated on screen that had already been performed. The show did not need this and for me theatre is not about watching a screen in any case, its about seeing performances. This however does need to be taken as a positive as what I am simply saying is that I wanted more acting from the trio of Daniel Hadjivarnava, Ciara Goldsberry and Jaryd Headley as they work excellently ...
Read more