NEWS
Well, hello Dolly! The indefatigable Dolly Levi is back and ready to demonstrate her famed skills at matchmaking – and meddling - at Sutton Arts Theatre in June.
All she needs, or to be more accurate, all
Sutton Arts needs, is a cast and to that end will be holding open
auditions at the theatre on Sunday, 15 January from 11 am.
The company staged its
first musical for many years in 2015 with
West Side Story,
perhaps the most difficult, and expensive, choice for any amateur
company, particularly one with a stage with no wings or flies. Directed
by Dexter Whitehead the result was nothing less than a triumph.
That was followed by
another slick and polished production from Whitehead last year with
The Wedding Singer
and with a growing reputation for a first class, big budget musical
every year, Hello Dolly
is the next to get the treatment, directed
this time by Whitehead and the experienced Emily Armstrong, the pair who
produced SAT’s excellent Jack and The Beanstalk panto last month.
Choreography, a strong
point of the previous two musicals, is by the experienced Sarah Haines
who was Anita in West Side Story
incid
entally,
and who is choreographer for the Old Joint Stock Musical Theatre Company
among others.
The theatre is on South Parade, Sutton
Coldfield, B72 1QU and auditions start at 11am on Sunday 15, January
with the show running from 15-24 June, 2017.
Hello Dolly!
has a long past starting in England almost 200 years ago with
John Oxenford’s one act farce A day
Well Spent. Seven years later the
play had been extended by Austrian playwright Johann Nestroy into a
three act musical comedy
Einen Jux will er sich machen
(literally He will make a joke or He will have a good time) which opened
in Vienna in 1842.
Jump on
almost 100 years and Thornton Wilder adapted the Austrian play, moving
it to the USA, as The Merchant of
Yonkers which opened on Broadway
in 1938 and bombed,
closing after 39 performances. Move on to 1955 and Wilder
reworked his flop into The Matchmaker
which became a big hit.
The biggest change in Wilder’s rewritten play was the role of Dolly Levi who was merely a minor character in his first unsuccessful attempt of bringing the story to Broadway, but in 17 years she had grown up to become the star of his reworked version.
Nine years later
legendary Broadway producer David Merrick used Thornton’s play for yet
another adaptation to become Hello
Dolly! one of the longest running,
most decorated and most loved musicals of all time with book by Michael
Stewart and music and lyrics by Jerry Herman who has a host of Broadway
shows including Mame, Mack & Mabel and La Cage aux Folles
to his credit.
Incidentally the musical was going to be called
Dolly, A Damned Exasperating Woman,
a snappy title if ever there was one, or
Call on Dolly.
By chance, in December 1963, Louis Armstrong’s manager had persuaded him
to record a demo of the song Hello
Dolly! for the song's publisher to
use to promote the show; this was in the days when sheet music was still
popular and a highly profitable business remember.
The same month
Kapp Records released the demo as a single giving Armstrong his first No
1 on the Billboard charts, ending a 14-week run in top spot by The
Beatles. Legend has it Merrick heard the Satchmo demo version and the
musical at last had its name, opening on Broadway on 16 January, 1964.
MOORPOOL Players in Harborne has
decided to bring down the curtain for the final time after 39 years.
There is somehow a great sadness when an
established amateur theatrical company folds, it is as if a little bit
of our shared cultural heritage dies with it.
Founded out of the Silver Jubiliee celebrations
in 1977, returning amateur stage to the area after a gap of 50 years,
Moorpool Players was, literally, at the centre of its community,
performing in Moor Pool Hall on The Circle, the large roundabout at the
centre of the estate, one of the first Garden Suburbs.
It was also one of the few amateur companies to
call a Grade II listed building home with the hall first opening its
doors in 1910.
As a theatre it has its limitations with no
flies and little in the way of wings, a real WYSIWYG stage, what you see
really is what you get. There is no technical gallery for sound and
light, which are controlled from mobile desks plugged in on a table at
the back, and as it is a community hall, with everything from dance
classes to keep fit, there is no raked seating, chairs have to be put
out and stacked before and after each performance, nor is there a
permanent bar or refreshment facilities, which all adds a sort of charm
to proceedings, overcoming limitations with a smile. Attending plays at
Moor Pool was a step back in time to a more innocent age; if Captain
Mainwaring had appeared in the audience he would hardly have looked out
of place.
Don’t get me wrong, it was not some old
fashioned affair, just a comfortable hint of nostalgia, a glimpse of
things as they once were simpler times. With home-made cakes and baked
potatoes on the refreshment stall and a hall-long second hand book
stall, cheaply priced and relying only on honesty for payment, you
always felt that this was a real community effort.
With a mix of traditional plays mixed with
modern, and spoof Victorian melodramas thrown in for good measure, it
has provided a varied programme, and, like any theatre company, amateur
or professional, it had its highs and lows, so perhaps it is fitting
that they went out on a high – a high that exemplified the root of their
problem.
Moorpool’s last production, Talking Heads has turned out to be an excellent swansong, garnering a 5-star review from Behind The Arras (REVIEW).
It played to packed
houses, indeed every Moorpool production seemed to be well attended, but
the accolades for the three actors highlighted a glaring truth; it was a
production that required just a cast of just three people. It had little
in the way of scenery, scene changes or costumes.
It was a minimalist production in everything,
and most importantly in cast numbers and backstage crew. The Players
have had good attendance from a loyal audience but treasurer and
Players’ stalwart of 37 years John Healey, has explained in a letter to
more than 500 regular supporters, there are just not enough actors to
mount regular productions and the number of front of house,
administrative and backstage staff is dwindling.
After the difficulties mounting a production in
May John said that finding a cast and support staff for the next
scheduled production in November was looking impossible so it was
decided to call it a day.
The Players was under threat two years ago when
landlords Grainger wanted to sell its holding, including the hall and
other facilities, but offered it first, at a fair price, to the Moor
Pool Heritage Trust, which managed to raise the required £325,000 funds
securing the future of the Grade II listed hall for the Players and a
host of other groups and activities.
But that was only a short respite and the
Players’ problems have reached a stage were John and his committee feel
it is impossible to continue.
In his letter, warmly thanking everyone for
their support over the years, John said: “Following the May production
we started to plan for our next show but, unfortunately, it quickly
became apparent that we would not have enough people to ensure that we
could stage another show in November. Additionally, it was clear
that there was no prospect of that situation improving.”
Talking heads
was directed by John and secretary Norma Mason, who has been involved
with Moorpool for the full 39 years, with a loyal, regular band,
providing technical expertise and front of house.
John continued: “We are sure that you will
understand that staging a major production is not just about finding
actors. There needs to be a large group behind the scenes providing a
range of administrative and technical support services. In the
last year we have lost many of these people and no replacements have
been found.
“Our survival for so
long has, of course, not only been made possible by having enough people
to stage our plays but also, and crucially, by having sufficient numbers
coming through the doors to support and sustain us financially and
through their applause, to give us the belief that what we’ve been doing
has been worthwhile. The reception that was given to
Talking Heads
affirmed that this continued to be the case.”
Moorpool has been an affiliate since Behind The
Arras started seven years ago, reviewed first by the late John Slim, and
then by myself; we have always been made most welcome and it has always
been a pleasure to watch their performances.
They will be missed.
Roger Clarke
SHE was the girl who couldn’t say
‘no’ in the Manor Musical
Theatre Company’s production of the Rodgers and Hammerstein musical,
Oklahoma!
That was two years ago, in Sutton Coldfield
Town Hall, when Beth Willis played the comedy role Ado Annie, the pretty
girl who too easily fell for the sweet talk of various young men.
During the show Beth had
to sing I
cain't say no,
but cowboy Will Parker was determined to win her over after her father agreed
to the marriage . . . as soon as he could save fifty dollars.
Playing opposite Beth, as Will, was Andy
Hooper, and now the stage romance has turned into the real thing.
So when Andy proposed earlier this year, Beth
had the perfect answer: Yes.
Now the couple are preparing for an August
wedding at Banners Gate Community Church, when many of the theatre
company will be present.
Andy, a BT employee from
Tamworth, and Beth, a New Oscott primary school teacher, are also
rehearsing for the company’s next show,
Calamity Jane,
which runs at Sutton Coldfield Town Hall from April 26-30. And they have
romantic roles in this one – Lieutenant Danny Gilmartin and Katie Brown.
The theatre group used to be called the Manor
Operatic Society, but this year changed their name to the Manor Musical
Theatre Company in a move to encourage more new members to join.
Paul Marston
Stage 2 stalwarts march on
STAGE 2, that Birmingham hotbed of youthful
talent and springboard for many a thespian career, is keeping an excited
eye on news of former members.
Ellie Jurczak, who is returning to the
city to work at St Mary's Hospice as a fundraiser later this month,
will be a special guest at the group's next fundraising meeting to tell
everyone how her Stage2 experiences led to the successes she has enjoyed
so far.
Yolanda Kettle is opening as Jane Bennett in
Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice in the Open Air Theatre at
John Light is Oberon and Theseus in
Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream at the Globe in
Lauren Crace is currently filming the second
television series of Mr Selfridge.
Matt Hill has just been at The Alexandra
Theatre,
Arthur Darvill is starring in Once on
Broadway.
Wayne Fitzsimmons is still strutting his
stuff in the NO1 Tour of Priscilla,Queen of the Desert.
Bless all who sit in her . . .
AND
with that Sir Derek Jacobi wielded the scissors to cut the ribbon to
officially open Hall Green Little Theatre's newly refurbished auditorium
in his role as president.
Included in the refurbishment was new life for the auditoriums seats - which have lost a row to improve leg room.
The seats were second-hand when they were installed in 1950, and have been reupholstered and re-covered at a cost of some £22,000. Further contributions will be greatly appreciated.
Sir Derek Jacobi, scissors in hand officially opens the refurbished auditorium with, in the background, Hall Green chairman, Alex Bradshaw and Hall Green Theatre Council member Louise Price
The official opening also included a showing the film Greasepaint and Girders, the story of the building of the theatre in 1951 by members who, with no formal construction training, got stuck in and created a theatre to be proud of.
Introducing Sir Derek, Hall Green Chairman Alex Bradshaw revealed that he and Sir Derek had a lot in common: they had been born on the same day (22 October 1938 for those interested) although he was momentarily lost for words when Sir Derek asked innocently: "I was a mistake, were you?"
Sir Derek was impressed with the new-look auditorium. He said: "I think it is great. I love the colour they have chosen. The seats are very comfortable and it is beautifully raked so that everyone has a very good view, which is very important - and the front of house is beautiful too.
"It is a big stage and I looked backstage at
the dressing rooms and wardrobe and it is a wonderful setting. They can
fly things too and some professional theatres can't fly stuff, I spent
the summer down in Chichester at the Festival Theatre and they can't fly
in stuff."
Meanwhile waiting in the background was
this year's pantomime Dick Whittington, which
runs from December 7-17 who found Sir Derek an
interested observer at their latest rehearsal.
See below.