Music for Teachers

I was delighted to receive an invitation to see ‘Little Shop of Horrors’ performed this week by a very strong cast at Grove School, Market Drayton, since their version of ‘Summer Holiday’ last year had been a totally enjoyable experience.

I attended the first night performance on Wednesday and the score was definitely ‘
Croatia 3 – The Grove 10!’ A most enjoyable evening made much more so since the diction was very good enabling the audience to hear the delights of the lyrics and dialogue.

A strength of the production was a uniformly very capable cast – good vocal work was a strong feature and very good characterisations throughout – unlike in many performances in some schools where the dramatic character is dropped as soon as a song begins.

I would particularly like to draw attention to the excellent work of the three students who linked the whole plot together as the characters Ronette, Crystal and Chiffon – they were outstanding – good stage presence, excellent communication with the audience and fine vocals with good well-balance harmonies – well done, Harriet, Mel and Hope, a great strength of the production.

I enjoyed the work of Marcus Groom as Mr Mushnik, he had created a convincing character and supported it with very good vocals; Audrey was played with style and confidence by Daisy McKee and earned the audience sympathy with a well sustained presentation seeming, initially, to be the only element of normality in a bizarre situation; Jonnie Hardy was amazingly over the top, a necessity for the role of ‘The Dentist’, he clearly thoroughly enjoyed the part which was an amalgam (!) of a sort of cross between Elvis, The Fonz and Hannibal Lecter – delicious! … and an inspired revisit of the chest-hair joke – brilliant!

Amy, Ollie and Robbie in smaller support roles made an impact – these were without the use of microphones and this caused a slight problem of balance in the vocal numbers but not a major issue.

Seymour played by Jo was such a considered characterisation – hesitant, exhibiting such low self-esteem and embarrassment that you were sympathetic even when he commits murder! Jo has a good voice – in places I felt the score was pitched a little low for him but he was convincing in this black role and with an extremely strong cast the vocal ensemble set pieces worked a treat.

The technical difficulties of this show should not be underestimated. It seemed to me that much time had been invested in this aspect of the show and it was really effective – the work of the sound and lighting team was very good. Some fine work had been undertaken to achieve a good sound balance in the musical numbers between the band and the voices – this was excellent – there’s nothing worse than seeing a show when the sound system is poor – not in this case. Excellent work Gareth and Jordan. This was well supported by the stage crew, Ben and Alex were presented with what must have been some complex set changes – these were very slick and made for a professional presentation.

Audrey #2 was a delight in all its forms – congratulations to Geert, Lyn and Stew for bringing the beast to life with good timing and effective ‘lip sync’.

This is truly an ensemble piece and the school is fortunate in having a talented group who magnificently held the audience’s attention and were responsible for creating much humour and fun – well done to all.

I’d like to say how good it is to see schools continuing to present major theatrical presentations at a time when it is so easy to focus on things that are easier to quantify and assess. A round of applause is deserved by the senior team of the school for supporting this vital work – so much of this weeks presentation will be remembered as a key part of school-life and long after the SATs scores have disappeared into history.

Congratulations to the cast and their directors Ken Stirling and Sharon Wright for another great show.

Stokesay Primary School presented an excellent concert this week which surely shows them to be in the forefront of muscial inclusion as they showcased a policy of opportunity for all.

With the support of colleagues from the Shropshire Music Service, Dot Atkins, David Glossop and Glenn Pollard, the staff and children of the school presented a programme listing over 90 children sharing with parents their progress over the last few terms in vocal and instrumental music.
Children sang and played trumpets, tormbones, cornets, recorders, flutes, clarinets and guitars showing off their achievements since beginning lessons in September 2006 or for some, 2005.

Musical materials had been carefully selected for the instrumentalists to show the progress made from beginners to more experienced ensemble work. The children who performed are just a representative sample of musicians in the school. While all the performers gave of their best and performed with enthusiasm, i must single out Daniel Meikle who sang and accompanied himself on the guitar. He showed great confidence and musical control as, alone, he faced the audience armed only with an acoustic guitar. Well done, Daniel.

The choir sang some excerpts from a musical they have prepared for an area musical collaboration. Again a wonderful opportunity for small rural schools to get together to provide opportunities for creativity for their children.

Congratualations to all children and staff.

I was in the audience for the Grove School (Market Drayton, Shropshire) production of ‘Summer Holiday’ last night and found myself smiling like a fool all the way through.  The performance was captivating – all the cast clearly enjoying themselves which does not always appear to be the case in school shows.