LBCT

Reviews!

The Mikado:

Directed by Sally Allsopp
In aid of Cancer Research UK
Time was when Leighton Buzzard's G&S Society staged years of comic operas by these two 'greats' to the delight of local audiences. Now renamed and with a new agenda, they have joined the merry host of musical theatre companies in Leighton-Linslade - and surrounding villages. So where do G&S buffs get their regular 'fixes' now? The occasional school/amateur company production, Bedfordshire Youth Opera, film and DVD, the D'Oyley Carte and . . . with LBCT - four times in their 12 year history!
Director Sally, a drama teacher at Vandyke, had made the most of the black shiny circular stage arena and crimson velvet curtains with a delicately tasteful set of crimson drapes, oriental flowers, parasols and huge fans with a floral bower containing bench.
Authentically costumed with wonderful wigs, hats and hair decorations, lbct senior students brought colour, character and charisma to each scene and a mature standard to choruses and choreography.
G&S is traditionally a challenge: comic lyrics sung and spoken at speed and with essential perfect diction or the many quickfire plots are missed. Those wonderful 'classics' "Three Little Maids from School", "I've Got a Little List", "The Flowers that Bloom in the Spring tra-la" never fail to make one smile.
Confident, accomplished soloists with mature vocal and comedy timing brought roars of laughter. James Leaver (Ko-Ko), Joe Parslow (Pish Tush), Matthew Lee (Pooh Bah) and Adam Smart (Nanki-Poo) were just outstanding! Yum-Yum (Eleanor Cloake) maintained a beautifully feminine but at times assertive and haughty presence. Katisha (Emer Downey) interweaved with sophisticated grace with soloists and chorus. Edward Percival as The Mikado was utterly superb.
So many people just 'don't do opera' and really should give G&S comic operas an airing: many are fast paced 'laugh out loud' swinging comedy romps. And with a young company production such as this, you will never look back, such is the zesty spirited enthusiasm experienced.
The cast with their younger members brought cheers from May Fayre audiences on Bank Holiday Monday, singing their hearts out from past productions - Annie and Oliver and the forthcoming September production Alice the Musical. Details of this and the senior students' July Leavers' Show (both unmissable!) are on www.lbct.org. Sally keeps the website buzzing with news. Become a lbct show and website regular! Feel the buzz! Follow the careers of young stars! Support Cancer Research UK by buying tickets for the next shows. You will go home walking on air - and singing - I promise you!

..Fiddler Review:..

TAKE 50 local young thesps, an inspired director, a team of committed volunteers/professionals and a tale of harsh Jewish Russian village life under Tsarist rule in 1905. Add a God-fearing dairyman, Tevye, his wife, Golde, and their five daughters of marriageable age, a village community; those in authority and those, like him, poor and struggling and you have the iconic musical Fiddler on the Roof performed in this instance, by the Leighton Buzzard Children's Theatre. In a moving Prologue, Tevye powerfully explains his belief in God's law which, together with their deep seated local traditions, makes their lives 'as shaky as a fiddler on the roof'. They are such challenging roles for teenagers—the Jewish/Russian accent—and playing characters well beyond their own age and experiences but succeed they did. Effective scenery changes and an extended stage made a 3D framework and with sensitive use of all the auditorium, it was not difficult to feel part of the village. The setting was superb, the actors well disciplined—almost all utterly motionless in the frequent very effective 'freeze' crowd scenes—'pictures' in stage terminology.The fiddler—lone, slight and with intriguingly haunting expressions—dancedinto all scenes. Sometimes inebriated,Tvye manufactures a nightmare experience—a scene of magnificent evil and induced fear. Costumes, choreography and scenery were completely authentic; a show full of some of the most emotive songs ever—If I was Rich Man, Matchmaker, Sunrise Sunset: this teenage cast accompanied by a 'full orchestra' track courtesy Sound/Keyboards guru, David Allsopp, enabled much mature vocal presentation. The Saturday matinee role of Tevye was played by Hari Apostolides—well cast physically and vocally with a commanding presence. Scarlet Forrest as Golde retained a dignified calm as the plot unfolded—a little too calm as she saw one daughter off to the USA! Key roles were played ably by Joanne Ellam, Dawn Mayne, Sarah Lightfoot and Serena Tartaglia, Cara O'Neill