An audience bustle into a small theatre in a Lincolnshire town. The hustle turns to silence as the lights dim, the curtain rises and ‘Fame-the musical’ begins.
Months of hard work, grit and determination all come down to this. It’s show night.
Blaze Youth Music Theatre (seniors) is formed up of students from Lincolnshire aged 14 and above who rehearse in Grimsby once every Friday night.
Having said that – this was no amateur performance.
I absolutely adore this musical. I remember it being one of my first ever crew jobs when I was fifteen years old. I worked as a runner, shifting props on and off stage, so I must admit it was really pleasant to be sat down whilst watching tonight’s performance.
The full cast began on stage with a powerful and invigorating opening song, complimented by a well-directed ensemble who sung in time and in harmony with each other to reflect a West End style performance.
Despite the sound issues during the performance the ever-professional cast ploughed on towards the second half with some outstanding soloists performing throughout – it’s just a shame that sometimes we couldn’t hear them.
Adam Barlow, who played the characteristic and witty Joe Vegas graced the audience with his charm and comical personality. I won’t go into to much detail but there are even some innuendos for adults out there too.
We all have/had that teacher who ruins the fun at school and Miss Sherman portrayed by Megan Curry perfectly demonstrated exactly that. Her authority and dominance swept across the stage like a mist of intimidation – reflecting her character’s persona down to a tee.
Other teaching staff played by Kennedy Gardiner, Sam Hotson and Ashley Lovett were equally as authentic and fitting.
The famous musical number ‘Fame’, lead by Kaysha Nada who played Carmen Diaz, clearly reflected the shear effort and determination put into the performance not only by those on stage but also by the director (Jacqueline Wilson) and choreographer (Caitlin Gledhill) – they are a credit to the team.
The on-stage relationship between Serena (Elizabeth France) and Nick (Owen Raper) was authentic and moving – portraying realistic and gripping love story of their own within tonights performance.
Lucas Albion, who played jock ‘Tyrone Jackson’, maintained his stud style image throughout a number of scenes although showed a softer side at times building up a convincing relationship with Iris (Caitlin Gledhill) too.
One of my personal favourite parts of the show had to be the sassy and bold performance by Amy Jane Garnett who played the lovable and hilarious Mabel Washington.
We also loved the solo vocal performance by ensemble member Casey Peterson which really stood out to us.
My colleague and I were completely blown away by the high standard set by the cast and company tonight. The dancing, singing and acting was – at times – of West End quality, especially taking into consideration that this was opening night.
We must compliment every single member of the cast – be them a principle role or in the chorus – for their amazing performance tonight.
They really put a smile on the face of hundreds of people including myself – and that’s really saying something.
This is a show for all the family so my personal suggestion is to pay a visit to Louth Playgoers Theatre with the family and see this incredible cast before they start charging you £90 per ticket in London in a few years time!
The performance will be showing at Louth Playgoers Theatre until Saturday evening and hopefully by then, the microphones will be switched on.
More information can be found on the ‘Blaze Youth Music Theatre‘ Facebook page.