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TOADS Stage Musical Company is happy to be back once again for its annual autumn musical here at the Little Theatre. Last years autumn show was the challenging musical “A Chorus Line” which is rarely attempted by amateur groups. TOADS , however, are made of strong stuff, and director Sarah O’Connor worked very hard on the production to ensure that the talented cast gave their best. Choreographer Elaine Johnson had her work cut out as so much of the show is danced, but the end result was a wonderful production for the company. John Amery gave us his usual first rate orchestra (hidden away behind the back cloth out of sight!!) and full houses for most performances ensured that the production made a small profit, which is gratifying after all the hard work.
After a few months rest it was back to the grindstone with the start of rehearsals for the major 2006 Princess Theatre production which this year was “Summer Holiday”, and yet another local amateur premier for the company. This show requires a cast of four young men and four young ladies; all required to be excellent singers, actors and dancers. The society was able to cast the show without any trouble thanks to the large number of talented young members in the ranks.
Director for this production was Society Secretary, Iain Douglas. He has appeared in every show by the society since 1979, so it was a strange experience for him not being on stage. He has directed for other companies locally and often works with Elaine Johnson and John Amery on other shows, so the experience was a bit like a holiday at home!!! The challenge for the team was to incorporate the large TOADS chorus and team of dancers into a show not really written for company work. This was achieved with excellent results. The show came across as more substantial and action packed than the original stage version, and the resulting slick and polished production was a big hit with the audiences, some of whom came back for a second visit.
Elaine Johnson excelled herself with the choreography, and John Amery once again dispensed his usual magnificent musicianship from the pit. Sadly, despite some of the best publicity we have ever received for a production, our patrons didn’t seem interested in coming along. Despite the show being very well known, our group bookers were not interested, and the advance bookings were disappointing. In addition the week of the show saw England playing two games in the World Cup competition, one of which was on the Saturday. This badly affected doors sales on those two days. As a result the show played to disappointing audiences and the society received a savage blow to it’s fiscal funny bone with a huge £8,500 loss. This was a great shame, given the superb quality of the entertainment on offer. However, TOADS SMC is not a society to ponder on what might have been, and picked itself up, dusted itself off, and carried on.
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