A MUSICAL OF MANY COLOURS (From News Shopper)

A MUSICAL OF MANY COLOURS

11:06pm Tuesday 31st January 2012 in Opinion & Blogs

'I closed my eyes, drew back the curtains to see for certain what I thought I knew'

Last Thursday night I accompanied the Mayor of Bromley and many others in watching Newstead Wood's rendition of Joseph at his Technicolour Dreamcoat.

Having been rejected by friends for IT homework I was feeling a bit down about committing social suicide, inviting my family instead.Luckily, Joseph was the perfect pick-me-up. A musical of many colours and songs the audience truly enjoyed it.

The cast was a varied and interesting one. With an all-girl cast, the only boy in the show had his own dressing room. There was a camel, a set of twins (Potiphar and Pharaoh), a detachable limbed goat and much more. It really was an amazing sight to see.

The only thing that I could fault in the entire play was the microphones. One minute they worked; the next they blacked out. Occasionally I felt as though I was watching a silent movie, trying to understand through the use of my dire ability to lip-read. However, the singing I did hear made up entirely for the little hiccups they had with the microphones. Grace Toogood, who played Joseph, ‘Closed Every Door’ in the hall with her breath-taking, operatic voice whilst the brothers livened the mood with their French version of 'Those Canaan Days'.

The band, directed by John Parsons, also deserves congratulating for the music that held the play together and made it sound like a West End musical. Alexa Hancocks, a percussionist, had over ten instruments that she had to play throughout the performance.

The scenery was beautiful and well-crafted. Designed by sixth former Madeleine Williams it has been painted by the A-Level Art students over the last few weeks. The scenery transformed the play into a professional one that I would certainly pay my money for. Izy Cheesman, who watched the performance, agreed and said, “It was amazing. It looked really professional for our school.”

So I guess that it’s the end of the school production for another year. For the cast this is really the end to what was a spectacular musical. It also ends the long after-school rehearsals that kept them back after school until well after the moon had come out. It’s time to get back to reality. For Sophia Pearson, who played one of the wives, it will be hard to make the transition from the school production back into normal school life, “It was so much fun. I met loads of new people and the after-party was really fun. I’m going to miss doing the school production.”

And as our play comes to an end I can only give my last words to Flo Wood, who played Dan, by saying, “Well done to Mr Stokes for being such a good director. Bring on next year!”