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WELCOME FROM THE MUSICAL DIRECTOR Welcome to West Road Concert Hall, and this special one-off concert performance of The Phantom of the Opera. Two years ago The Phantom of the Opera was finally able to be licensed by amateur groups - as a show which I had loved for years, I instantly put in an application to The Really Useful Group. Which was promptly rejected. Two years of discussions, emails, phone calls and letters later, and here we are: one of the very first amateur performances of this incredible show. The show you see tonight is a stripped down version of the show which has been playing at Her Majesty’s Theatre in London for a record-breaking 28 years. We’ve aimed to tell this story in a succinct concert version: much of the dialogue is missing, the chorus are static and movement of the principals has been restricted. However, this has enabled us to concentrate on the music in far more detail than normally possible for a student show, and as such keep the spirit of the show alive whilst providing a clear narrative. It has been a dream of mine to be part of Phantom for the best part of 15 years, and hence tonight it will be nothing but a total thrill to stand in front of this spectacular company to conduct the score. Nearly 100 people have worked on this show in the past few weeks and I cannot even begin to thank them for their hard work and commitment to what we have affectionately called our ‘little project’. Have a brilliant evening. Yours, Freddie
5 MINUTES Rebecca Cane
WITH
REBECCA CAINE Rebecca is a professional opera singer and actress in Musical Theatre. She sang the part of Christine in the original production of Phantom, shortly after the departure of Sarah Brightman, and led the first Canadian transfer of the musical. She continues to perform throughout Britain and North America, and teaches at Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance in Greenwich.
What is your earliest memory of musical theatre - or any sort of theatre, for that matter? Opera - a Met touring production of Carmen at age 5. I made my career choice then.
When you originated the role of Cosette, did you have any idea how huge Les Miserables would become in the coming years? No! We knew it was a success eventually but shows had never run so long.
So what was your first role in a show? Marian the Librarian in The Music Man in High School. But then professionally as Despina in Cosi Fan Tutte.
How did you feel about Tom Hooper’s adaptation of Les Miserables for the screen? I hated it! It was directed by someone who had a basic misunderstanding of how acting through music works. He thought if the actors pushed the music forward and were in charge of the tempo it would make it better; but you lose the symphonic sweep. You could hardly hear the orchestra.
Uniquely, your career has been split between opera and musical theatre: is it difficult to consistently switch between the two? Yes, opera books far in advance so scheduling is hard and both genres have misplaced ideas about the other so there are barriers to be broken.
I thought most of the movie star singing was dreadful. Eddie Redmayne being the
exception. Weeping your way through a number and not sustaining the line is just indulgent. My role (Cosette) is dependent on singing well as possible as there is so little to go on so if you can only bleat like sheep, get someone in to dub it. It was a great relief when the barricade scenes started and the real singers (most of them West End leads) showed up! How do you feel about the recent media storm over the “fat-shaming” of Tara Erraught? Do you think that the critic should concentrate on the voice and performance alone, or are they justified in their criticism of a performer’s looks? One has to look the role, of course, and the person vilified should have been the designer. However, in the bigger picture the world seems obsessed with body shaming. Society needs to change. In your experience, is the Erraught case an anomaly? Or would you agree with Anastasia Tsioulcas that “the classical world can’t stop fat-shaming women”? I do think many of the last century’s greatest singers wouldn’t get a look in now, so bad it has got. On the other hand I remember being cast as Lulu and the word being I’d got it on how I looked. Good luck singing that role on looks alone! Are there any roles that you dream to play, or re-play? I was lucky to do most of the roles I hankered for. I’d love to do some Sondheim.
What is your favourite piece to perform? For the singing, Gilda in Rigoletto, but for the acting range, Lulu Which was the more enjoyable role: Cosette or Christine? Both can be pretty limp and dreary! It sends the fans mad when I say it but ingenue roles as a rule are boring. How did you find performing opposite Michael Crawford? Cramped...! I was told to bend my knees to make him look taller. Also, kissing rubber. Not sexy. Have you ever considered a different career for yourself at any point in your life? Oh, every day. But I’d never change! Why do you think ‘Phantom of the Opera’ has proved so popular over the past few decades? It has it all - good tunes, beautiful sets and costumes. It’s the classic tale of beauty and the beast. But honestly, would you date someone who was perving at you while you got changed, through a two way mirror? Follow Rebecca on Twitter: @rebeccacaine
CAST PHANTOM CHRISTINE RAOUL CARLOTTA PIANGI FIRMIN ANDRE MME GIRY MEG AUCTIONEER / / R EYER
JOEL WILLIAMS GEORGINA SKINNER OLIVER MACFARLANE GABRIELLE HAIGH HENRY HAWKESWORTH TRISTAN HARKCOM ED ROBERTS NELL WARNER LAURA HARRISON SAUL BOYER
TOM AINGE, ISABELLE BARBER, ELIZABETH BATE, DAVID BOOER, JENNI CAISLEY, NICK CALDWELL, DECLAN CORR, JANNEKE DUPRE, OLIVIA FRANKS, HETTY GULLIFER, MARY HAMILTON, JAMES IRELAND, KATE LOWE, LILY PARHAM, WILL POPPLEWELL, EAVAN PRENTER, RYAN RODRIGUES, JONNY STOKELD, CHRIS STUART, ANNA STURGKH, COLM TALBOT, PETE TEVERSON, ANNA WAGNER
CREATIVES MUSICAL DIRECTOR ORCHESTRAL MANAGER STAGING DIRECTOR SOUND DESIGNER SOUND NO. . 2 PRODUCTION ASSISTANT COSTUME CONSULTANT FLOOR MANAGER LIGHTING DESIGNER PUBLICITY DESIGN
FREDDIE TAPNER EMMA GAIT SAM RAYNER ALARIC WORROD JAMIE BALCOMBE OLLIE THICKNESSE HARRIET WEBB LIAN WILKINSON WILL WYKEHAM CLAIRE PARKER
JAMIE CARTER BETHANY CRAIK SHANTI DAFFERN OLLIE DUFF JON FRENCH ALI HUNTER JONATHAN SPRIGGS DAVID WOOD
J OEL WILLIAMSPHANTOM No stranger to big performances, Joel spent much of his youth as boy treble prancing around the stages of European opera houses, in roles ranging from one of Die Zauberflöte’s Drei Knaben to Cobweb in Britten’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Joel is currently a Choral Scholar at King’s, where he reads history. As a soloist, Joel has focused on classical repertoire. He recently played Tamino in CUOS’s production of The Magic Flute (ADC Theatre), and is thrilled to return to the stage for his
first foray into musical theatre as the Phantom. From King’s, he will move on to postgraduate study at the Royal College of Music, and hopefully to a career which puts him back on stage. Joel spent a year singing with the Princeton Katzenjammers, and now sings with the King’s Men. He was also a founding member of the Princeton University Opera Company. Joel is often to be found delving into the academic world of Wikipedia and Amazon book reviews.
Joel Williams The Phantom Georgina is a final year performing arts student at Anglia Ruskin University. Previous theatrical credits include: Yum Yum in The Mikado (Mumford Theatre), Melissa in Princess Ida, Mama in Nine (ADC theatre), Casilda in The Gondoliers (a sinking punt on the river cam), Fleta in Iolanthe (Minack Theatre) and Rapunzel in Into the Woods (ADC theatre).isThis summer Georgina Georgina a final year performing willarts be playing Melissa in Princess Ida student. Her theatrical credits at the International G&S festival and include Yum Yum in The Mikado Josephine in HMS Pinafore at the beau(Mumford Theatre), Melissa in tiful Minack Theatre. Georgina has been Princess Idawishing (Fitzwilliam Auditorium), wanting and she could play Mama in Nine (ADC theatre), Casilda Christine since the age of 12 and tonight The Gondoliers (a sinking punt she isinridiculously excited to be fulfilling the river Cam),like Fleta in Iolanthe thison dream! She would to say thank Theatre), Rapunzel Into you(Minack to her parents for taking her toinsee Phantom nine(ADC yearsTheatre), ago whichand began the Woods chorus her love of performing. in The Pirates of Penzance (West
GEORGI NA SKI NNER CHRI STINE
Road Concert Hall) and The Sorcerer (ADC Theatre). Georgina recently performed a recital of comic arias from opera and operetta. She will
be playing Melissa in Princess Ida at the International Gilbert & Sullivan Festival and Josephine in HMS Pinafore at the Minack theatre on the cliffs of Porthcurno. Georgina has been wanting and wishing she could play Christine since she was 12 years old. She is extremely excited to be fulfilling this dream tonight and hopes that one day she will be reprising this role at Her Majesty’s theatre! She would like to say thank you to her parents for taking her to see Phantom nine years ago which began her love of performing.
Oliver is in his second year studying psychology at Emmanuel College and is also a choral scholar in the college Chapel Choir. Having been a fan of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s musicals since the age of 10, Oliver is delighted toOLI have the chance to sing the part of Raoul in tonight’s concert. While at St Paul’s School Oliver performed in a number of shows including the roles of Joe in Fame and Romeo in Romeo and Juliet. Since arriving in Cambridge he has focused on musical theatre and his credits include: Paul in Company (ADC Theatre), Man 2 in Songs for a New World (ADC Theatre), and Joseph in Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat (Magdalene Musical Production Society).
OLIVER MACFARLANE RAOUL
HENRY HAWKSWORTH PIANGI
GABRIELLE HAIGH CARLOTTA
Henry is a bass choral scholar at King’s, and is in his third year reading music. Previous credits include Leporello in Don Giovanni (West Road Concert Hall), Collatinus in The Rape of Lucretia (Girton Old Hall), Jesus in Temptations (St. John’s Divinity School), Sarastro in The Magic Flute (ADC Theatre), and bass solos for the Stravinsky Mass (Cambridge University Music Society), Buxtehude’s Jesu Membra Nostri (Trinity College Music Society), Copland’s Old American Songs, and Bach’s St John Passion (Truro Cathedral). He has participated in masterclasses with Andrew Kennedy, Sarah Connolly, Roderick Williams and Andreas Scholl, and studies with Russell Smythe.
Soprano Gabrielle is a fourth-year Classicist at Clare College, and she takes voice lessons with Nicky-Jane Kemp. She is also a Choral Scholar in the Clare College Choir, and has recorded several CDs with them for Harmonia Mundi. She has also performed solo with the Canton Symphony, Apollo’s Fire (The Cleveland Baroque Orchestra) and the European Baroque Orchestra. Recent roles include Mabel in CUG&S’s 2014 production of The Pirates of Penzance and Alcibiade in a Clare College production of Satie’s Socrate.
Ed is a Modern Languages student in his second year at Emmanuel College, and has only begun to truly immerse himself in Cambridge theatre in the past twelve months. Since then, he has performed both on stage, and in the orchestra as a trombonist. Highlights so far have included performing in Iolanthe at Cornwall’s Minack Theatre, and playing Potiphar in Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat. Outside of the theatre and academia, Ed is a member of Emmanuel Chapel Choir, and a keen euphonium player.
ED ROBERTS ANDRE Tristan Harkcom is an undergraduate at Girton College, where he studies music. He sings with Girton College Chapel Choir, where he is a choral exhibitioner. Previous roles include Major General Stanley in The Pirates of Penzance (West Road Concert Hall) and creating the role of the Narrator in Bad Advice (Corpus Playroom). Upcoming roles include Tracollo in Livietta and Tracollo, King Gama in Princess Ida at the International Gilbert & Sullivan Festival, and Captain Corcoran in HMS Pinafore at the Minack Theatre. Tristan loves nineteenth-century opera and Wagner.
TRISTAN HARKCOM FIRMIN
Meg Giry Saul
SAUL BOYER AUCTIONEER
NELL WARNER MME. GIRY
LAURA HARRISON MEG
Saul is an English student at Downing College. Previous theatrical credits include: Bryon, Jerusalem (ADC Theatre), Khruschev, Little Eagles (ADC Theatre), Heracles, Alcestis (ADC Theatre), Spinx, Mercury Fur (Corpus Playroom), George Tesman, Hedda Gabbler (ADC Theatre), Peter, Company (ADc Theatre), Fred, Woody Allen’s Riverside Drive (Corpus Playroom), and The Director, Six Characters in Search of an Author (Edinburgh Festival Fringe & ADC Theatre).
Nell is a Music student at Homerton College. She has performed in Cambridge productions of Dido and Aeneas, Gondoliers, Pirates of Penzance, Magic Flute, and Don Giovanni. Nell also sings with the Choir of Clare College, with whom she has been a soloist in Britten’s Rejoice in the Lamb and Bach’s B Minor Mass; sings in an allfemale a cappella group, often performing her own arrangements; and sings in an early music consort. She is taught by Nicola-Jane Kemp.
Laura is a second year Music student and choral scholar at Sidney Sussex. Having done a lot of musical theatre when younger, she is now enjoying bringing it back into her life, as another dimension to her choral and academic interests. Phantom is the second show, after The Pirates of Penzance, that she has taken part in on stage at Cambridge, although she has enjoyed playing in the pit orchestras for several CUOS and G&S shows in the past too.
FREDDIE TAPNER MUSICAL DIRECTOR Freddie is a finalist studying Engineering at Pembroke College, and a proud Youth Ambassador of the National Youth Music Theatre (NYMT). He previously Musical Directed Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat (Magdalene Cripps Court). Assistant Musical Director credits include: The Princess and the Pea: Footlights Panto (ADC Theatre), Funny Girl (ADC Theatre), and Nine (ADC Theatre). Acting roles include Mr Morton in The Other School for NYMT (St James Theatre, London) and The Lord Chancellor in Iolanthe (Minack Theatre).
EMMA GAIT ORCHESTRAL MANAGER Emma studied music at Selwyn College. She currently works as PA to conductor and musicologist Christopher Hogwood CBE, and she is choir administrator at both Selwyn and St Catharine’s Colleges. Previous production credits include AMD, Iolanthe (Minack Theatre, Cornwall); AMD, The Snow Queen (Cambridge Footlights, ADC Theatre); Producer, The Rape of Lucretia (Girton and Queens’ Colleges). Emma holds a DipABRSM in violin and has performed in over 150 concerts and shows in Cambridge alone.
ORCHESTRA Violins Emma Gait ((leader))) Rhiannon Randle Angus Bain Marco Selvi Hannah Bell Catherine Xu Miranda Whitmarsh Jade Brightwell Lizzie Heyes Zoe Lai Chloe Rush
Flute/ / piccolo Rosalind Ridout Davina Barron Oboe/ / COR ANGLAIS Grace Howson Clarinet David Wong Will Reis Bassoon Louisa Denby
Viola
Kuei--Mien Chang Marianne Tweedie Cello Jozefien Vanherpe Daniel Grace Becky Whiteman Basses Alan Bowman Danielle Ainsworth
Trombone Henry Moss Tom Byrne Iain Ross Tuba David Lawrence Percussion Susie Zadeh Simon Nathan Harp Trang--Anh Nghiem
Horn Esther Osorio Keyboards Whewell Oli Rew Frances Leith Steve Gage Imdad Sarharwalla Trumpet Michael Maddocks Ed Ling Hannah Hodgson
CREATIVES Sam Rayner Staging Director Sam is a second year English student at Girton College. Previous credits as director include: The Princess and the Pea: CUADC/Footlights Panto 2013 (ADC Theatre), Nine (ADC Theatre). As an actor: The Actor, Six Characters in Search of an Author (ADC Theatre & Edinburgh Fringe Festival), Philip, The Deep Blue Sea (ADC Theatre), and Ensemble, AIDA (ADC Theatre). Sam is directing Of Mice and Men at the ADC Theatre in Michaelmas term, and is directing his own play, Nougat For Kings for the Edinburgh Festival this summer.
Alaric Worrod Sound Designer Alaric regularly helps out on student productions. Previous sound design credits in Cambridge include: Putting the World to Writes by Rosalind Peters (Corpus Playroom), Funny Girl (ADC Theatre), Merrily We Roll Along by (The Mumford Theatre),
Jerry Springer the Opera (ADC Theatre), Secret Porter’s Ball (The Cambridge Union Society), Cambridge), Annie Get Your Gun (ADC Theatre), and and A Streetcar Named Desire (ADC Theatre).
Jamie Balcombe SOUND NO. . 2
Jamie is a second year Engineer at Churchill College. Previous credits as Sound Designer include: Iolanthe (Minack Theatre, Cornwall), AIDA (ADC Theatre), and Company (ADC Theatre). Other technical roles include: Master Carpenter, Into the Woods (ADC Theatre) and Production Manager, The Pirates of Penzance (West Road Concert Hall). Jamie is Production Manager for both HMS Pinafore at the beautiful Minack Theatre, Cornwall, and for the European Theatre Group tour of Macbeth this December. He has a refined taste for nice cheese and is the Technical Director of the Cambridge University Amateur Dramatic Club.
Ollie Thicknesse Production Assistant Ollie is a finalist studying Classics at Magdalene College. Previous credits include: Producer, Amirite? (ADC Theatre), Producer, Songs for a New World (ADC Theatre), Producer, How To Suceed in Business Without Really Trying (Magdelene Cripps Auditorium), Assistant Producer, Iolanthe (Minack Theatre, Cornwall), and Producer, Putting the World to Writes (Corpus Playroom). Ollie also (occasionally) acts, with credits including The Canon: A Literary Sketch Show (Corpus Playroom) and London Assurance (Magdelene Cripps Auditorium). Ollie will entering the real world this September, teaching secondary school Classics.
Harriet Webb Costume Consultant Harriet is in her second year studying Archeology and Anthropology at Magdalene College.
Previous credits as costume designer include: Into the Woods (ADC Theatre), A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum (Mumford Theatre) and Glengarry Glen Ross ADC Theatre), and How To Suceed in Business Without Really Trying (Magdelene Cripps Court. As producer: Funny Girl (ADC Theatre), Gondoliers on Gondolas (The River Cam) and 1984 (ADC Theatre). Harriet is Company Manager for HMS Pinafore at the Minack Theatre this summer, and is Tour Managing the European Theatre Group tour of Macbeth this December. Harriet likes Midori, museums and Filofaxes.
Lian Wilkinson Floor Manager Lian is a second year linguist at Downing College. She hopes to go into Stage Management and will be working in theatres on her year abroad. Previous credits include: Stage Manager, When the Rain Stops Falling (Rosmary Branch Theatre), Props Master, Into the Woods (ADC Theatre),
Props Master, The Princess and the Pea: CUADC/ Footlights Pantomime 2013 (ADC Theatre), Props Master, Merrily We Roll Along (Mumford Theatre), Lighting Designer, Woody Allen’s Riverside Drive (Corpus Playroom), and Technical Director, Way Back (Corpus Playroom).
Will Wykeham Lighting Designer Will’s previous technical credits include: Lighting Designer, Iolanthe (Minack Theatre, Cornwall), Lighting Designer, The Glass Menagerie (Corpus Playroom), Production Manager, The Marriage of Figaro (West Road Concert Hall), Chief Electrician, Ruddigore (Minack Theatre, Cornwall), Lighting Designer, Romeo & Juliet (ADC Theatre), Technical Director, HMS Pinafore (Minack Theatre, Cornwall), Lighting Designer, Motortown (ADC Theatre), and Technical Director, Return to the Forbidden Planet (ADC Theatre).
Claire Parker Publicity Designer Claire is a second year historian at Clare College. Previous design credits include: Les Parents Terribles (Corpus Playroom), Five Kinds of Silence (Corpus Playroom), The 24 Hour Plays (ADC Theatre), and Confusions (ADC Theatre).
Emily Newton Programme Designer Emily is a finalist at Newnham College studying English. Previous design credits include: Company (ADC Theatre), Anthology (ADC Theatre), and Bluebird (Corpus Playroom). She specialises in brochure design, having worked to commission for The Cambridge Union Society, The Marlowe Society, and The Watersprite Festival. Emily is working on the rebranding of Cambridge University Music Society this summer, and is lookig forward to designing for the European Theatre Group tour, Macbeth, this winter.
ENDNOTE: FROM
RICHARD STILGOE Richard Stilgoe was the original lyricist and book writer of Phantom before Charles Hart was brought on board as the principal lyricist. I am in the process of developing a piece of musical theatre with a group of teenagers in a not very glamorous part of Liverpool which happens to be called Broadway. Three weeks ago we took fifteen of them to see The Phantom of the Opera. Most of them had never been to London before, and none of them had ever seen a West End musical. Their wide-eyed and knocked-out reaction was quite something, and a great reminder for blasé old me of the effect that music theatre can have. And of the effect it can have on the lives of the performers; we were shown round backstage by my friend Philip, who plays the auctioneer, and has been in the cast for twenty years. My wife’s oldest friend has MS, so needs help from her husband, who is a trumpeter. His previous job in the LSO meant he was sometimes touring in Japan, and sometimes in Newcastle, and not able to deliver the necessary care. So he gave up the LSO, and played first trumpet in the Phantom orchestra for twenty-three years - same notes every night, and not what he had hoped for when he first put lip to mouthpiece - but it gave him and his wife a life, and paid the mortgage off. Phantom, and Starlight Express and Cats before it, has a huge roster of marriages, children and paid mortgages, and have given security to many in this uncertain profession. And yet all three were expected to fail before they opened. Nobody really knows why they succeeded - but the looks on the faces of the Liverpool teenagers, as the show lifted them out of reality into a world of escape and magic, give us a pretty good clue.
MANY THANKS TO EVERYONE WHO HAS HELPED BRING PHANTOM TO STAGE IN CAMBRIDGE, INCLUDING: :
BEN GLASSBERG , , EMMANUEL COLLEGE MUSIC SOCIETY , , PEMBROKE COLLEGE PORTERS, , KAM WITH THE VAN, , AND THE MANY HANDS THAT HELPED AFTER THIS PROGRAMME WENT TO PRINT. . .
We have the bows If you have the balls
ANTHONY ! 18 Trinity Street, Cambridge 01223 360592 www.anthonymenswear.co.uk