Last night I took my little’un down to the Winter Gardens for a night out (don’t tell her teacher).
And what a treat we had! In The Spotlight is the current production from the Ventnor Theatre Group and they certainly know how to put on a fantastic show.
I have to be honest from the start, I really don’t like musicals. In a past life (back in my mainland days) I shared a house with a bunch of actors, so had to endure their renditions of west end musicals whilst they did the housework (which wasn’t very often), showered, cooked, in fact just about all the time, so for me to come away from nearly three hours of songs from musicals saying it’s a great show – take my word, it really must be.
It was great to see a change in the audience layout, rather than just having rows of seats, there were several tables and chairs at the front, handy for having somewhere to put your drinks and nibbles on.
The show kicked off with songs from Chicago, hotly followed by eight year old Robyn Moss who gave a wonderful solo performance of Maybe from Annie. This was despite Robyn waking up yesterday morning with a very sore throat. She was quickly joined by other members of the cast, both nippers and adults for ‘You’re Never Fully Dressed’.
Songs from The Threepenny Opera, Song and Dance, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, Oklahoma, and Hair followed. All performances were absolutely fantastic and this really is amateur theatre at its best.
A twenty minute interval allowed time for wine refills and ice creams and after a quick leg stretch, we soon settled back down take in songs from Moulin Rouge, Buddy, Sound of Music, Cabaret, Jesus Christ Superstar and finishing with Mamma Mia.
As I say, there were excellent performances from all the cast, which ranged in age from three to over seventy and the choreography which was superb, must’ve been quite a task.
Hats off to Sue Golding who made all the costumes, and there seemed to be hundreds – they all looked brilliant and from where I was sitting, very professional. Praise must also go out to Tony Careless, Musical Director and all the musicians in the pit, the lighting and stage crew.
Finally congratulations to the director and driver behind the production, Jayne Hill. You’ve proved that if you give people a chance, they really can amaze you.
If you missed the show, don’t worry as it’s on every Tuesday night up until 21st August. Show starts at 7.30pm and tickets are £5, available on the door or in advance from Magical Wanderings in the High Street or the Ventnor Winter Gardens box office.
I’ve been singing songs from the show all day (which is probably quite annoying for Simon) and Alpha has decided that she definitely wants to be in the next production, Peter Pan.
