April PREVIEW
Kipps launches centenary year
SIDMOUTH SIDMOUTH Musical Theatre celebrates its centenary this year, with a spring production of Kipps, the new version of the Tommy Steele classic, Half A Sixpence, at Sidmouth Manor Pavilion, on Saturday 16th April, and Monday to Saturday 18th to 23rd. Originally known as Sidmouth Arts Club Operatic Society, the company was formed in 1922 when the Rev C K Woolcombe, vicar of Sidmouth, wrote and produced The Fairy’s Dilemma. The Fairy’s Dilemma was followed quickly by a pantomime, The Sleeping Beauty and, the following year, The Rajah of Rajapore by a little known writer C King Proctor. In 1924 the society presented Montague Phillips The Rebel Maid under the professional guidance of Percy Stedman and Dorothy Hughes. Until the Second World War the society’s productions were mainly Gilbert and Sullivan’s Savoy Operas, with three exceptions—Tom Jones, Flora Dora and The Arcadians. After the war, Gene Gerard, a West End musical comedy star of the 1920s and 30s, who had retired to Sidmouth, directed many shows including Gilbert and Sullivan, and an outstanding production of The King and I in 1965 was particularly outstanding. Gerard was followed by Frederick Rylands. Increasing costs led the society to put on an autumn fund-raiser in 1995. Presenting musicals is very expensive—with royalties of £5,000 or more and total productions costs from £25,000 to £30,000. Another significant change came in 2015 when Sidmouth Arts Club Operatic Society became Sidmouth Musical Theatre. The original musical of Half a Sixpence, based on the novel Kipps by H.G Wells, with music and lyrics by David Heneker and book by Beverley Cross, told the story of Arthur Kipps (a simple soul), a draper’s apprentice, as he experiences Edwardian society in Folkstone. It was written as a star vehicle for Tommy Steele, who played the role of Kipps in London in 1963, on Broadway in 1965 and in the 1967 film adaptation. Steele sang 12 of the musical’s 15 songs. Producer Cameron Mackintosh reunited the team of George Stiles and Anthony Drewe to adapt Heneker’s original songs and create new material, with Julian Fellowes writing an entirely new book for Kipps. It premiered at Chichester Festival Theatre in 2016. The new show has all the famous songs, including Half a Sixpence, Money to Burn, She’s Too Far Above Me, A Proper Gentleman, If the Rain’s Got to Fall and of course Flash Bang Wallop. Sidmouth Musical Theatre’s autumn production will be Chess.
48 The Marshwood Vale Magazine April 2022 Tel. 01308 423031
Healing the Nation
BRIDPORT COMEDIAN Andy Parsons was in the middle of a UK tour when theatres had to close due to lockdown—the tour was called Healing The Nation—so that title worked out well! Now Andy is back on tour, coming to the Electric Palace at Bridport on Friday 22nd April. He says it will be “the longest tour ever,” taking three years to complete, and as it has gone on “there’s been less and less healing and more and more of the opposite.” Andy admits he could have changed the title: “But it still seems strangely appropriate.” Also for ticket-holders of rescheduled gigs it might be confusing if the show was now called “My life in ballet.”
Dracula in Space DORCHESTER
IF you think string quartets are all formal clothes and austere chamber music, you haven’t met Bowjangles, four brilliant musicians who sing, dance and are very funny. Catch them at Dorchester Corn Exchange on 8th April with their show, Dracula in Space. Bowjangles is an irreverent, anarchic group who cross the musical genres, bringing music, theatre and comedy together—in this latest outing, even adding a touch of scifi horror. In this new show for 2022 the intrepid foursome are blasting off into outer space to meet a mysterious benefactor whose proposition seems a little too good to be true. But what happens when their lead violinist starts to act a little strangely? (WARNING: Contains scenes of graphic violins!)
Local date for blues star
BRIDPORT ERIC Steckel, who was the youngest ever guitarist to play with John Mayall’s Bluesbreakers, brings his phenomenal guitar-driven blues metal to Bridport Arts Centre on Saturday 23rd April.
