Warring the sexes

How incorrect can you get? It's massively out of era, but I loved it. It was Guys and Dolls, the musical from 1950, performed by the Queanbeyan Players. Amateurs, perhaps, but with some seriously good singing, some decent dancing, a capable band, huge commitment and lots and lots of performers. It's not something you'll see with the profs these days because they can't pay for it and keep the ticket prices reasonable, but the amateurs can have 40 performers on stage, plus a band of 25 musicians, also on stage, and everyone's loving it. This was the final performance of the season, so the preparation was evident and the enjoyment was rife. And the music and book, all great. I'd listened to the sound track before and it didn't particularly click, but with the story and characters presented live, it all worked. G&D was released in 1950 and would have won the 1951 Pulitzer prize for drama but for writer Abe Burrows having troubles with the House Un-American Activities Committee and Columbia University vetoing the selection. In the end, there was no Pulitzer for Drama for that year. G&D is the story of Nathan Detroit, local Craps promoter, and his lover of 14-years, always soon-to-be-married, Miss Adelaide, bar singer. And in parallel, Sarah Brown, Broadway Salvation Army sergeant and her to-be beau, Sky Masterton, superior gambler. It's a story of its time with dark shades to feminism, but it's got essential truths amongst the period romanticism. The music is great; the characters and the story work. Perhaps except that it ends so suddenly and strangely unsatisfactorily, when Sky, in a totally unlikely, sudden and unexplained twist, joins the church. But there's a certain humanity here and that's important. I loved it. The players performed with gusto and plenty of serious capability. And it's not a lightweight outing: including interval, it lasted 3 hours. A fabulous outing that I'll remember. Just another example of the very capable and productive local non-professional theatre around here in Canberra.

Guys and Dolls was presented by the Queanbeyan Players at TheQ. Key performers were Kitty McGarry (Sarah Brown), Tina Robinson (Miss Adelaide), Steve Galenic (Sky Masterton) and Anthony Swadling (Nathan Detroit). The Production team included Jude Colquhoun (director) and Jenna Hinton (musical director).

The main pic is my photo of a publicity pic on show in the foyer. I guess that's kosher for copyright purposes.

Inducted as Pit player

I am now inducted as a Pit Player after finishing my half of the season of Sound of Music. I'm bass, of course, sharing with Naomi Barber. We were one of about 25 players on any one night, playing the charts for this popular, touching, if sentimental work. It's not hard to read or play, but it is surprisingly effective. SoM is by Rodgers & Hammerstein, so by a well known name in the business. It's not without reason that it's popular. I've been humming the tunes for weeks now and it's one for the kids. The opening night got a good review from our local stalwart, Peter Wilkins, so most nights thereafter were sold out or close to. The pit is partly covered so some instruments (including bass and cello) were dulled. I could just play louder and I needed to as a single bass often playing pizz. I've seen the actors in rehearsal but I could see nothing from my corner of the pit, so, other than the nuns' habits, I have no idea of costumes. What are Maria's dresses like, the ones that caused such consternation for the Captain? And how daggy were those curtains? As for the grown up dance and kiss, I have no idea. [Maybe our mature PM of the grown up government could advise; but then being grown up is not a concern for adults, just for adolescents]. I could chuckle at some quips though, and it's surprising how much extra I caught after hearing the script about a dozen times. And there were some audience comments which were good natured and fun, but some things strangely missed, like the "poverty, obedience and ... chastity" line that found some laughs in rehearsals but not in the shows I played. Cheers to the orchestra and Jennifer Groom who was musical director, and also to a great cast, including two families of children. Maria was the obvious standout, strong in acting and singing. Not for nothing that Peter Wilkins wrote "[Veronica] Thwaites-Brown's performance is a triumph in a production that will move audiences to tears, evoke laughter and remind us that we can all climb mountains to follow our dream". But the cast throughout was impressive and energetic and the singing was good and sometimes surprisingly so. Judith Colquhoun as Mother Abbess could bring you to tears with her feature song, Climb Every Mountain, and the wedding march also tugged heartstrings. It's been considerable work, lots of fun and gives a feeling of achievement. Thanks to Jennifer and orchestra and cast and crew for a great run.

Sound of Music was presented by the Queanbeyan Players at TheQ. Jennifer Groom (musical director) led the orchestra.

Peter Wilkins' review from Canberra Times