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Winterbourne Operatic Society. ‘Salad Days’
Winterbourne Community Centre, Bristol
November 2005
Director – Katherine Reed. Musical Director – Heather Wren.
Choreography – Mavis Campbell, Sue Dark & Katherine Reed
‘Salad Days’ is a light hearted, comedy musical that was written by Dorothy Reynolds and Julian Slade as an end-of season show for the Bristol Old Vic in 1954. Set in London, the story revolves around Jane (in search of marriage) and Timothy (in search of a career). A magic piano called Minnie takes them on an enchanted adventure by compelling people to dance and be happy. The result is a wealth of comical situations. This production had all the right ingredients, catchy songs which were sung extremely well, especially by the leads, Vicki Seal and Mark Beardmore, some hilarious characterisations, in particular Mike Couzins’ policeman, night club owner and fashion icon, Pauline, March as Lady Reaburn, Mary Newton as Aunt Pru and the wonderful Electrode played by Ted King
Though the whole story is improbable and fantastic, the company actually had us believing in the situations, everybody on stage worked hard and really enjoyed themselves. The choreography was tailored to the players’ abilities, the sets worked extremely well, costumes were of the period and the whole group worked very well as a team.
This ‘jolly romp’ was pure escapism and made a great evenings entertainment. |
