The first show was a Variety Show with a selection of songs from the shows and was performed in the Budmouth School Drama hall.
The first musical was a Rock Musical adaptation of Nicholas Nickelby, called Smike. After Smike the Senior Operatic Society decided that WOW should form its own committee.
Next came Oklahoma, in 1985, performed in the Weymouth College Drama Hall and WOW made its first small profit.
In 1986 WOW performed Bugsy Malone, one of the most fun-packed shows imaginable. One of our cast, Paul Harrison, was chosen to appear in the West End production of Bugsy alongside Catherine Zeta-Jones.
Annie Get Your Gun was the 1987 production and was performed at the Weymouth Pavilion Theatre. It was directed by our present Drama Coach, Pat Oddy, and choreographed by Tanya Borthwick.
Free As Air was WOW's 1988 show about quaint English folk on a little island in the English Channel.
Ricky Price, a professional director from Bournemouth, was booked for the 1989 production of Half a Sixpence. This was a major step forward, as we now encountered higher production costs for the first time. However, Ricky gave WOW a terrific boost and brought the children up to a very good standard. As a director he was very demanding, knew exactly what he wanted and would settle for nothing less.
Having reached a new level, with the previous show, the decision was made to perform Grease in 1990. This show, again directed by Ricky Price, was a great success. The members loved every minute of it and it was an enormous success as well, with a 'full house' sign up every evening. When the professionals have finished with Grease and it is again released for amateurs, this is a show that WOW would definitely like to repeat!
The Pajama Game was the 1991 show, and it was again directed by Ricky Price, who also did his own choreography. This proved to be a good show for chorus and principals alike, with plenty for everyone to do.
In 1992, it was WOW's 10th anniversary so Ricky Price and Janet compiled a celebratory show. This was a combination of excerpts from previous WOW shows and in the second act, a selection of songs from West End musicals. This show was greeted with a full standing ovation, and the applause resounded for almost five minutes. A great time was had by all!
Also in 1992, the choice of musical seemed fitting to be the one which had seen the start of WOW back in 1982, and Oliver! was again performed. Thelma Parish was the director, and soon had the children eating out of her hand. Oliver!, like Grease, was another hit.
The Music Man did not seem to have enormous box-office appeal, although a healthy profit was made when WOW produced it in 1993.
The 1994 production was 42nd Street was a very difficult show due to the huge scenery and very expensive costumes. The backstage crew, under the direction of John Stockley, performed minor miracles, moving the heavy set without the audience knowing what was happening.
The 1995, 1996 and 1997 shows were Calamity Jane, Anything Goes and Me and My Girl. Each year, the principals get better and the competition for the parts becomes more intense. On occasions, the audition committee could have cast the leading roles twice over!
Crazy for You, in 1998, saw a few changes. The decision was made to hire Martyn Knight, from London, and so again the costs were increased. Martyn turned out to be simply wonderful and the youngsters adored him. He was so good to work with him that he was engaged for the 2000 production of Mack and Mabel. Crazy for You, with its wonderful Gershwin music, was a sheer pleasure to produce.
Good News, the 1999 show, was without doubt a bit of a gamble. It was a relatively unknown show from America, and was about an American College football team, and the youngsters enjoyed it. Martyn was already booked for other productions, so his friend Scott St Martyn was asked to direct. The standard of the acting and singing was high and Scott's production was terrific.
In year 2000 we celebrated by producing 'WOW It's 2000, A Century of Song', this show gave many of the members a chance to perform solos and duets etc, and was thoroughly enjoyed by both audience and cast. We are repeating a similar show in April 2001 as it was so successful.
The November 2000 production was the West End hit musical MACK AND MABEL which became available for Amateurs to perform. This was directed again by Martyn Knight and was huge challenge for the young company. As usual they rose to the occasion receiving rave reviews from the press. Another expensive show to put on but well worth doing.
In April 2001 we produced a compilation show which gave all the members a chance to perform solo and small group work. The show was called WOW IT'S SHOWTIME and was a great success with the audience and the members alike. The show included music from one of the Disney shows, Beauty and the Beast. Pocahontas, The Lion King and numbers from South Pacific, Annie, Carousel and The Beautiful Game. In the second half of the programme the songs were mainly from Oklahoma, Calamity Jane and Seven Brides for Seven Brothers. As the show had been such a success, the Pavilion Theatre manager asked the company to do the show again during July and August as part of the Summer Season. The proceeds of this going to the newly formed WOW Building Fund. See details of the building fund in the News\ Items.
In November 2001 the production was Annie Get Your Gun. Although an older style show, the young company, under the Direction of Scott St Martyn, turned it into a very lively and entertaining show. The cast and audience alike enjoyed the show immensely. It was good to see a young company handling themselves with such sophistication in ball gowns and dress suits. A show well suited to a young company and well worth doing.
The year 2002 was a special year as we celebrated our 20th Anniversary. The production was therefore something special, so in April we produced WEST SIDE STORY - Directed by Scott St Martyn, with his usual flair. There were some great performances from the cast who were all the older members of the company. The younger members helped out backstage and front of house. We were joined on the Saturday evening by some seventy former WOW members who helped us to celebrate the twenty years by joining us for the after show party. It was a great way to conclude a very successful week.
In November 2002 we produced Busgsy Malone, as much as anything to give our younger members more to do as they had been excluded from West Side Story. Martyn Knight directed what turned out to be quite a tricky show, with so many bit scenes. With quite a lot of new members, Martyn had to work very had on the cast but he came out on top as usual and the reports were excellent. What a messy show though - with all that Splurge! Heather Reed, normally the accompanist, took up the role of MD as Janet Stockley has decided to give the conducting a rest. We hope that Heather will MD for us again as she did so well. Quite a busy year with two full scale productions but after all said and done, it was to celebrate twenty years success of the group.
In April 2003 we performed a compilation show called ‘WOW THAT’S ENTERTAINMENT’. This show comprised of the music of Judy Garland, A Beatles revue and songs from the modern musicals.
This production gave all the cast a chance to do either solo’s , duets or work in smaller groups. It was such a success that the company has performed excerpts from the show in various venues in the county.
42ND STREET was the choice for the November 2003 production. This was the second time we had produced this show but this time it was directed by Scott St Martyn, who had appeared in the original production in the West End with Georgia Brown and Franky Vaughan.
Needless to say the direction and choreography were superb. The leading part of Peggy Sawyer was played by Kristy Cullen who was magnificent and danced up a storm. Jason Watkins was a very credible Julian Marsh and Hannah Taylor gave a very mature performance as Dorothy Brock. Ed McMillan sang his top notes with great confidence as Billy Lawler.
Altogether one of our best ever productions which received very good revues. Scott St Martyn did us proud, as usual.
In 2004 WOW repeated That's Entertainment and performed Fiddler on the Roof as the main show in the Autumn.
In 2005 That's Entertainment 3 was performed which was an evening of songs from the shows. It was held on 22 & 23 April 2005 at Weymouth Pavilion Theatre, WEYMOUTH, Dorset.
In November 2005 the group produced HELLO DOLLY, with all its wonderful comedy, beautiful costumes and glorious musical score. Scott St Martyn returned to Weymouth to Direct and choreograph this most enjoyable musical. The role of ‘Dolly Levi’ was played to perfection by Rebecca King, who at 16 years old, is proving to be quite an actress. The critic was excellent and described Rebecca’s performance as ‘a tour de force’ Scott St Martyns production was also highly praised, and Michael Meteer, playing Cornelius Hackle was stated as ‘the star of the show and a talent with a future’.
All the young ladies of the chorus carried themselves with such sophistication considering that they normally wear jeans and T shirts. Particularly noticeable was the way that they tackled their period hair styles and all looked quite grown up. The boys chorus excelled in their rousing chorus of ‘It takes a woman’ led with great force by Mark Bowden as ‘Horace Vandergelder’. The comedy roles played by Michael Meteer and Daniel Strong were brilliantly played with Charlotte Steen and Grace Osborn joining the quartet with enormous confidence and style.
Ed Hintze was the musical director with Sam Ryall standing in as our rehearsal pianist in place of Heather Reed who has not been well. Ed and Scott made a terrific team with the backing of Pat Oddy as Drama Coach and Jill Tindale as Dance Mistress. WOW is lucky to have such a brilliant team.
We had to ‘dead’ some of the scenery due to the size of it but nevertheless it was a very good set from ‘Albermarle’.
Looking for productions with plenty of chorus work does prove very difficult but this show had just about enough although most of it was in Act 1. A good show to tackle for a junior production because it taught the young cast so much about the style of the period and comic timing. Sadly this show did not prove to be a great box office although it was critically acclaimed.
Summer Holiday - April 2006 - Some photo's from the show... © 2006 Jane Mckell
1.jpg){kind=small}
1.gif){kind=link}
Carousel - 8 - 11 November 2006 at Weymouth Pavilion Theatre
Rodgers and Hammerstein’s Carousel takes place between 1873 and 1888 in a small New England fishing village. The tale revolves around a love affair between Billy Bigelow, a travelling carnival man, and Julie Jordan, a local factory worker. Desperate for money after learning that he is soon to become a father, Billy is killed during an attempted robbery. Several years later, when he is allowed to return to earth for a short time, he seeks out the daughter of his union with Julie.
Musical numbers included ‘The Carousel Waltz’, ‘If I Loved You’, ‘June Is Bustin’ Out All Over’, and the well-known, emotional song ‘You’ll Never Walk Alone’.
Julie Jordan was played by Charlotte Steen and Billy Bigelow by Mark Bowden. Their daughter Louise was played by Stephanie Taylor. Carrie and Enoch Snow were played by Sophie Easthope and Chris White, Nettie Fowler by Becky King, Mrs Mullin, Mary O’Malley and Jigger, Michael Meteer.