David Porter » Entries tagged with "Lowestoft Players"
The Sound of Musicals
Musicals! – The Sound of Musicals, review published in the Eastern Daily Press, online edition on Saturday 30 September 2017. Musicals are worth celebrating anytime, but the Lowestoft Players have a special reason to pull out the musical theatre stops. Founded in 1967, the award winning Lowestoft Players open their golden jubilee year with ‘The Sound of Musicals’ at their very own Bethel Theatre. With over 50 musicals to their credit, not to mention pantomimes, plays and revues, this talented, continuously inventive all-age cast present a sparkling show offering a taste from most of those musicals! More than a concert of excerpts, this has dancing, moving, magnificent singing, comedy, emotion and a gripping sense of showbiz and spectacle – a hallmark of the Players’ house style. From traditional musicals like Annie Get Your Gun, Carousel, … Read entire article »
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Hairspray (Lowestoft Players’ version)
Hairspray review of Lowestoft players’ show at the Marina Theatre, Lowestoft in June 2017, published in the Lowestoft Journal, 9 June 2017 and also the Eastern Daily Press. Hairspray is one of those unlikely stories that became a big hit on film and stage. And big is the word. Lowestoft Players take the tale of oversize love triumphant in the cut-and-thrust of showbiz TV in early 1960s racially segregated USA and give it their special high energy, fun-packed treatment. Pace never slackens. Songs hit one after the other, with familiar Good Morning Baltimore, Nicest Kids in Town, I Can Hear the Bells and the standout I Know Where I’ve Been keeping everybody’s feet tapping. Cool choreography, smart direction, verbal and physical gags, rousing singing and a piece of social history with a message make a … Read entire article »
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A Christmas Spectacular 2016
A Christmas Spectacular by the Lowestoft Players, in their Bethel Theatre Review published in the Eastern Daily Press, 5th December 2016 and The Lowestoft Journal, 9 December 2016 Christmas, coming as it does ever earlier and ever more commercial, is likely to bring out the inner Scrooge in many of us. The Lowestoft Players’ annual spectacular seasonal variety show is the perfect antidote to that. There is something about the warm atmosphere of the Players’ Bethel theatre, lights, effects, magnificent costumes, superb singing, dancing and comedy routines – some new, some old and some new takes on old favourites – that is heart-warming and feel-good. Directed by Lauren Nevill and Polly Woodward, with choreography by Emily Fox and musical direction by Krista Ribbons, this year’s bumper show has a versatile and energetic main company … Read entire article »
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Spamalot
Spamalot by the Lowestoft Players at the Bethel Theatre, Lowestoft Review published in the Eastern Daily Press, 12 September 2016 and The Lowestoft Journal, 16 September 2016 Spamalot, ‘lovingly ripped off’ from the ‘Monty Python and the Holy Grail’ movie, is a joyful feast of fun, surreal madness, random allusions from history, politics, literature, in a knock-out panto-cum-musical. Lowestoft Players, in the run-up to their 50th anniversary, create a stunning evening out with brilliant costumes, terrific music, exquisite choreography, quality singing, professional standard direction/production and outstanding performances. It seems unfair in such an ensemble of monks, minstrels, guards and girls of the lake to single out individuals, but Chris Darnell as King Arthur perfectly catches the buffoonery while Beth Lewis shines as the diva in a part she was born for – she is just … Read entire article »
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Sister Act
Sister Act at the Lowestoft Players at the Marina Theatre, Lowestoft Review published in the Eastern Daily Press, 9 June 2016 and the Lowestoft Journal, 17 June 2016 Sister Act, the hit film-inspired musical, is the perfect vehicle for the Lowestoft Players’ summer show with its high energy, implausible story line that lends itself to daft comedy antics, rocky music and unadulterated fun. It’s a team triumph for the multi-award winning Players who grab its opportunities with both hands from directors and principals to chorus/ensemble, from musicians and stage crew to the terrific dance routines, some based on Motown. Lauren Nevill beats the challenge of the gangster’s moll who, while seeking sanctuary in a nunnery, sets the church on fire with her singing and racy ways. Judi Mars is the perfect straitlaced Mother … Read entire article »
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A Christmas Spectacular 2015
A Christmas Spectacular 2015 Lowestoft Players at the Players’ Theatre, The Bethel, Lowestoft Review published in the Eastern Daily Press, 7 December 2015 and The Lowestoft Journal, 11 December 2015 It’s a real treat to come in from the biting Lowestoft wind to the welcoming warmth of the Lowestoft Players’ own Bethel Theatre, sit back, relax and start to feel a lot like Christmas. For their fourth Christmas Spectacular they pull out all the stops with colour, costumes, songs, dances, thoughtful readings and an enveloping aura of peace and goodwill. Some of the humour is knockabout belly-laughing stuff; songs range from the traditional Christmas repertoire to Hallelujah, fast becoming a national favourite and the cast is a happy blend of Players’ stalwarts and younger performers. The direction, choreography and music team of Beth Lewis, Jimmy Atkins, … Read entire article »
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Grease
Grease Lowestoft Players at the Bethel Theatre Review published in the Eastern Daily Press, 14 September 2015 and The Lowestoft Journal, 18 September 2015 There’s something about Grease that makes it so popular, so feel-good, so ‘Summer Nights’, with its string of what have become classic pop songs like Grease is the Word, Greased Lightnin’, Hopelessly Devoted to You, Sandy and You’re the One That I Want. Lowestoft Players bring their high energy, enthusiastic and professional team approach to the American High School, teenage rom-com in all its colourful, musical and fun-filled entertainment. The ‘will they/wont they’ couple Danny (Tom Guttridge) and Sandy (Isabelle Anderson) are well-matched and The Pink Ladies (Claire Doughty, Lorna Tucker, Angie Smith and Emily Simpson) are perfect foils to the T-Birds (Lawrie Groom, Ricky Reeve, Daniel Hughes and Simon Warren). The … Read entire article »
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Legally Blonde
Legally Blonde from the Lowestoft Players at the Marina Theatre, Lowestoft Review published in the Eastern Daily Press, 4 June 2015 and Lowestoft Journal, 5 June 2015 Unafraid to embrace risk and challenge, the Lowestoft Players are staging the East Anglian amateur premiere of the bubble gum, high-energy fun musical Legally Blonde. Based on the myth of the dumb, ditzy blonde bombshell unable to cope with legal training at Harvard Law School, this musical love-comedy follows Elle, stunningly portrayed by Polly Woodward, as she learns that the law can help others. She is the outsider who shakes up a stuffy establishment, in love with the creep (Lewis Caplin) and unaware of her true destiny (Tom Guttridge) till the explosion of dancing, singing energy that is the finale. Yes, individual roles impress, but as always with the … Read entire article »
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A Christmas Spectacular 2014
Lowestoft Players’ Christmas Spectacular at The Players’ Bethel Theatre Christmas Spectacular 2014 review published in the Eastern Daily Press, 8 December 2014 It’s beginning to feel a lot like Christmas. Lowestoft Players annual Christmas Spectacular has transformed their headquarters at The Bethel into a warm, welcoming and family- oriented Christmastide theatre. This is a variety show that crackles throughout with seasonal celebration from a large, all-aged cast. A host of traditional festive songs and carols are treated in a wide range of styles from Dickensian to 1950s. Once again pupils from the Louise Elizabeth School of Dance are a delightful addition with extracts from Anastasia and The Snow Queen. The choreography is inventive and there are moments of more reflective images interspersed among the glamour and comedy. Costuming and effects are carefully planned to make for … Read entire article »
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Aspects of Love
Aspects of Love The Lowestoft Players at the Bethel Review published in Eastern Daily Press 6 September 2014 and Lowestoft Journal 12 September 2014 Always pushing boundaries, the Lowestoft Players have excelled themselves with this Andrew Lloyd Webber gem. They are staging the Suffolk premiere at their own Bethel theatre, harnessing some of the finest talent in the region. Stephen Wilson and Louise Clarke direct masterfully. Far from a classic love story, it’s a triangle of relationships which expand to include others in a tale very much of the late 1980s, yet timeless in its treatment of the hopes, yearnings and uncertainties of love. Love Changes Everything is the show-stopper and the motif that underpins the score. Matthew Hardy does a tremendous job on piano and the music is seamless. Craig Loxton as the romantic soldier, … Read entire article »
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