REVIEW: A Musical Evening Of Gothic Horror - The Grange Theatre, Oldham.

Brit Theatre - a new and up-coming theatre company based in Oldham is a local company for the whole community. Taking aspiring performers from anywhere within the locale from all ages and backgrounds, the company strive to be as professional as they can be, giving everyone the opportunity to experience working alongside those already in the profession. Brit Theatre is the brainchild of its owner, Dave Benson, who, for many years was best known as the producer of professional pantomimes.

This evening, for the one night only, they presented a musical pot-pourri of songs taken from both the popular music and Musical Theatre repertoires which fit broadly into their theme of the evening, Gothic Horror.

The evening was presided over by comedy MC, Rodney Cadd, whose costumes became more and more outrageous with his every entrance {perhaps miscast and should have been a panto Dame?}, and although he seemed to be having fun enjoying his banter, most of it fell a little flat, and had many "in-jokes" which simply excluded myself and companion this evening. His role was largely unneccessary and despite bringing some laughs to a show full of mostly 'serious' songs, the evening would have run smooother and been more professional without his interjections.

The evening started with a full company rendition of  '(Attend The Tale Of) Sweeney Todd' which was strong and excellently done with some nice moves and a great picture ending. This was followed by a further two songs from Sweeney Todd, 'The Worst Pies In London' sung well by a young lady who was ideally too young for the role but had a great sense of character, and then 'Nothing's Going To Harm You' sung sweetly by one of the youngest members of the company. This was followed by two girls rap-singing the modern 'Don't Lose Ur Head' from the hit Musical, Six, and the first of two songs from The Addam's Family, 'Crazier Than You', sung with passion by one of the older girls.

Following this was Michael Jackson's 'Thriller' which potentially could easily have been the showstopper of the evening, but sadly, for whatever resason this evening it fell rather flat and was poorly executed. Fortunately the pace and beat was picked up again with three young men wearing skeleton masks and sombreros singing 'Jump In The Line' (by Harry Belafonte), which was one of only two truly funny songs in the whole showcase.  Sondheim's Into The Woods' 'Last Midnight' followed this changing everything back to a darker and more sinister tone, and sung with real thought and feeling by the (far too young and far too pretty) witch.

To end the first half of the show, we turned to Andrew Llowd-Webber, and his beautifully evocative and operatic scoring of 'The Phantom Of The Opera'. First the full company sang 'Masquerade' in some beautifully designed white latter-day Ball costumes, before we welcomed two guest artistes onto the stage to sing two further songs from the Musical, 'Wishing You Were Somehow Here Again' and the title song 'Phantom Of The Opera'. The two guests were Pavel Kobrle (bass-baritone) and Tereza Marshall (soprano), who are both professional opera singers back in their native Czech Republic. Kobrle had a beautifully deep and sonorous voice and I would have loved to have heard him sing a solo. Sadly however he was very much 'support' for Marshall, and never truly got to shine in his own right. Pity. Marshall's soprano voice was mellow and precise, and the final note of 'Wishing You Were Somehow Here Again' - a song (indeed the whole role) having been written especially for Sarah Brightman to sing, - was clear and hit head-on! Having heard it sung so many times with a cringeworthy final piercing note, it was worth her journey from Prague just for me to hear that!

The second half of the evening continued in much the same vein, starting with a tribal dance and fire-eating. Seven youth dancers were used in this section and the choreography here was the best of the evening, especially from the principal dancer (dressed in white) who impressed with her leaps and timing, and the whole had some lovely lifts. We continued with 'Into The Woods', 'Jekyll And Hyde'. The Ghostbusters Theme, a magic tango (??), 'Little Shop Of Horrors', and the stand-out song of the whole evening, 'Death Is Just Around The Corner'. Originally from The Addam's Family this was a very diffierent take on the song, sung by a nurse who obviously was not interested in taking care of her poor patient in the wheelchair she was encumbered with. Darkly humorous anyway, this singer brought a new level of comedic cynicism to the song and it worked really well for her.

Before the final sequence, the two Czech singers Marshall and Kobrle came back again to sing Bonnie Tyler's wonderful, 'Total Eclipse Of The Heart'. The evening finished with a couple of male 'usherettes' singing 'Double Feature', Brad and Janet singing 'Damit Janet' and of course the whole company came back on to take us all out on a high as they did 'The Time Warp'.

A fantastic and extremely well designed set completed the picture for the evening. Wrought iron gates, pillars, a moon, a raven, gravestones, garlic, skeletons, and goodness knows what else. Sadly however, the set design was optimal only when seated directly in front of it, and this evening the stage configuration was in thrust (meaning audience on three sides). This meant that those audience members seated on the two sides, especially nearer the set itself would not have seen everything nor enjoyed the set the same. In fact, most of the directing was also giving the central audience preference and most focus, which again was leaving the two side audiences - of which there were many - with a lesser show. The other thing which most unfortunately was working against the company this evening was the sound. Sound levels were not right at all the whole evening. Mics were set at different volumes, and the backing tracks, for the vast majority of songs. were overpowering the singers. However the lighting was creative and not over-used, and the energy and enthusiam of the entire cast shone through.

I'm sorry, but without a programme I am unable to credit by name anyone other than those mentioned on the flier. However, the evening was very enjoyable, and was a huge credit to both Brit Theatre and the acting community of Oldham. I am already looking forward to seeing Little Shop Of Horrors when it comes to the Graneg Theatre in July.

Reviewer - Matthew Dougall
on - 27/4/19