At The Movies Review

The first word that comes to mind with this variety show concert of songs from the movies is ‘slick.’ It was obvious from the start the amount of hard work and preparation that had been done to bring this to the stage was on a higher plane altogether. In the absence of any named Director in the programme the task of pulling altogether appears to have fallen to Producer Becca Pountney, Musical Director Ed Jones and Choreographer Flo Rowntree. With well drilled numbers and quick change exits and entrances it was certainly well rehearsed, fast paced and thoroughly engaging.

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The theatre seating was set out on the flat in banquet style with round tables laid with white tablecloths and covered luxury chairs for the audience, with the seating right up to the edge of the stage the cast were at times a matter of inches away from the front row. The large stage, and by goodness they needed it, was a flat area to the fore, a stepped area upon which the twelve-piece orchestra was seated and behind that a smaller raised stage. All in the control of experienced Stage Manager Steve Ward.

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The lighting by Tom Hall also was very slickly done and as I didn’t really give it much thought which means it went without a hitch. The sound by George Colledge in the main worked, but, and nobody in Marianettes fault, I really struggle with the balance in the Trinity Arts Theatre and did seem a little off at times. Not sure what can be done about it though? Otherwise a great job.

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The show was amusingly compered by Anthony Rhodes, with a running gag that he had turned up to the auditions to take on ‘the big number’ only to be disappointingly cast as the compere, but throughout the show was continually asking the MD to take a lead, which of course he eventually did.

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Costumes were mainly coordinated outfits for the various numbers, with some very quick changes at times.  For example, there were some wonderful ghoulish masks for the Ghostbusters and primary coloured dresses of red, green, blue and yellow for the ‘Dream Big’ section.  In one number – Diamonds are a girl’s best friend the backing dancers all wore sashes that matched the main singer's dress – of gold, white and pink – subtle and effective. Add some highly comical blonde Ken wigs from Barbie, some great school uniforms to name but some of the costumes. Of course, the orchestra were immaculately dressed in evening attire, as were some of the male cast for some of the sections. It must have been bedlam in the changing room at times!

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The one thing Marianettes always manage to do is put together a first-class band, with a group of now very familiar faces in: MD Ed Jones and Andrew Longland-Meech (Keyboards), Danny Barton (Guitar), Colin Woolmer (Bass), Chas Hutchings and Isaac Hutchings (Trumpet), Liz Schofield (Trombone & Tuba), Pam Ronayne (Horn), Andy Stewart (Reeds), Tessa Shepherd, John Shayler (Violin) and Les Arnold (Drums). Your usual first-class job guys!

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When it comes to choreography, NODA award winner Flo Rowntree is up there with the very best. She has developed a recognisable style all of her own, she literally signs her name on the dancefloor.  Routines with several members of the cast holding a performer in a horizontal position whilst still singing and some of the gymnastics moves she has built in defy the laws of gravity. She has the ability to turn the whole cast into agile athletes! Clearly hours of work had gone into making it so mesmerising. Simply brilliant!

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Starting off with, to those of us of a certain age, the familiar theme of Cinema advertisers Pearl and Dean, which I have now learnt is called ‘Asteroid’ the show was divided into various themed sections opening with ‘Lets Dance,’ highlighting numbers from Dreamgirls, Saturday Night Fever, Dirty Dancing, Footloose, An American in Paris and Moulin Rouge. Then a Classic Movie Musicals section highlighting The Sound of Music, Oklahoma, South Pacific and West Side Story, followed by ‘Dream Big’ with The Wizard of Oz and La La Land. To finish the first half we had an ‘Animation’ section featuring The Prince of Egypt, Pinocchio, Snow White and The Seven Dwarves and Shrek.  A highlight of the first act was Alicia Bray-Whitworth, who also designed the excellent souvenir programme, sat on a bar stool with her Ukelele to give us a haunting rendition of Hallelujah.

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The second half, after the opening John Williams medley from the band, was themed as ‘Spies & Crime’ for the opener and featured snippets from several Bond movies as well as Pulp Fiction. The next section, titled ‘Space & Time,’ which certainly got our feet tapping as we sang along featured Back To The Future, The Rocky Horror Picture Show, Men In Black and Ghostbusters. The penultimate section, titled ‘Boys and Girls’ featured songs from Moulin Rouge, Summer Stock, Chasing Rainbows, Bridget Jones’ Diary, Breakfast at Tiffany’s, Burlesque and most amusing of all with those comic hairpieces Barbie! And the final ‘Big Finish’ section had The Blues Brothers, Flushed Away and Rocky. Fifty songs in total!

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We also had a special individual appearance of Sam Wilthew who blew us away with a solo on electric guitar playing Johnny B Goode.

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Sadly the programme itself doesn’t name the individual performers of the songs, so I will say a collective well done indeed to all thirty three members of the cast. This was a fun show, extremely well done with some fabulous choreography, powerful voices, some very comedic moments and some very poignant ones that brought back a whole range of emotions and memories. Thank You Bedford Marianettes.

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So well done to:  Emily Woodcraft, Alisha Howard-White, Anthony Rhodes, Utshatja Bhandari, Sophie Carter, Heather Cunliffe, Carole Wilthew, Phillip Smith, Chris Brittain, JB Leeson, Mea-Ellease Goodwin, Josh Hughes, Corey Butler, Eleanor Leonard-Smith, Alicia Bray-Whitworth, Lauren Kyesimira-Clarke, Jen Lewis, Mark Burnapp, Mike Cunliffe, Natalie Goldsworthy, Cate Lawson, Scarlett Pickard, Shannon Wilmot, Livvy Clarke, Rachel Dean-Corke, Rachel Spavins, Rebecca Walters, Flo Rowntree, Harriet Holden, Richard Woolmer, Sam Wilthew, Sarah Godfrey and Mabel the black Labrador!