David Slater's blog: January 2016

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NETG Adjudication

Sweeney Todd

WAOS

Wednesday October 27 2010

Witham Public Hall

Adjudicator – Sally Fisher

Assisted by – William Hooper

Sweeney Todd (David Slater)
From the moment David Slater walked on stage, it was his! He was commanding, suitably “disturbed” and menacing when required. His singing voice was excellent and a pleasure to listen to as was his speaking voice which was executed with clear diction and timed to perfection. He played the role of Sweeney with confidence and panache, a wonderful performance, very well done

2010 - Sweeney Todd

NODA Review

Directed by Nikki Mundell-Poole

Musical Director Phil Toms

Performed at the Witham Public Hall 28th October 2010

Sweeney Todd the Demon Barber of Fleet Street billed as a musical thriller. This production came at a most apt time of the year i.e. “Halloween” and certainly gave the audience the thrill of a show which was played to perfection and as close to a professional production as one could get.

David Slater as Sweeney Todd played this character in a very strong defined style which was very powerful and compelling, and coupled with Liz Watson as Mrs Lovett these two made a really strong pairing. Liz gave a tremendous character, very well sung with a real sense of humour in some of her songs, but also a compassionate motherly style also which was moving. Rachel Clapp as the Beggar Woman really made the most of this part which turned out to be a very important character in the story line. Very well sung and really convincing as someone who had literally no life but just got by day to day with a few scraps here and there. Nick Clough as Judge Turpin was imposing and confident as the guardian of Johanna, but with a rather more dark side in his affections towards her. Zoe Rogers as Johanna had a beautifully top soprano voice which had a real unique quality, and played her character in a sweet gentle manner. Michael Mundell-Poole as Beadle Bamford was suitably controlled by Judge Turpin and reached new heights with his falsetto singing. Well done on a demanding range for the voice. I really enjoyed Marcus Churchill as Adolpho Pirelli, again with a good high singing voice and strong dialogue in a fun character.

The chorus, soloists and other characters in the production added much to the overall enjoyment of the evening. Very strong difficult chorus work ably led by Phil Toms and an orchestra which was balanced very well with the voices. The orchestra’s scores must also have been very demanding but were very well played throughout the production. The sets were excellent, especially with the inclusion of the very scary “hot seat” in Act II where the prospective customers were dispatched in a very quick exit. Lighting and sound as aforesaid excellent. Costumes, wigs and make up I thought gelled together in this production so well.

Another imaginative exciting show from Nikki Mundell-Poole. The whole company worked their socks off in this show to achieve the first rate production it was.

~~Review by Ann Patten~~

Chess

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2010 - Chess

Reviews

NODA Review

Directed by Nikki Mundell-Poole, Musical Director Stephen Kenna

Performed at the Witham Public Hall – 29th April 2010

Set against a cold war background with an intricate story line Chess first played for three years in the West End in 1986 and in 1988 premiered on Broadway.

A very demanding show for a company which requires some very strong voices to take the principal leads, Witham were blessed with some outstanding voices to play the male leads singing extremes of range from almost Falsetto to Double Bass. All the principal men did justice to their roles and we had some fine singing from John Escott as Freddie Trumper, David Slater as Anatoly Sergievsky, Stewart Adkins as Alexander Molotov, Tom Whelan as The Arbitor and Tim Sheppard as Walter de Courcey.

I was totally convinced by the characters they portrayed with a variety of styles, all very different and interesting. The principal ladies consisted of Florence Vassy played by Jenni Leggett and Svetlana Sergievsky played by Kathryn Adkins. Their duet “I know him so well” was excellent, and both gave great performances. The four part singing, some of it in a Russian style was balanced beautifully.

Every show has highlights and I particularly liked “Pity the Child” sung so well by Freddie, the moving “Anthem” sung with great feeling by Anatoly, and the super “The Soviet Machine” sung by Molotov and Chorus.

The overall feel of this show was of a very high standard and the best “Chess” I have seen for some time. The inclusion of the three screens displaying events relating to the chess tournament, the TV coverage and the like worked very well and was informative and interesting. The publicity for local traders on the screen during the interval was a good marketing idea.

The set was very well designed with the crew working well, moving sets in a way which did not interrupt some very tense moments. The costumes all fitted well and looked very elegant.

The pit singers added to the overall singing on this show, and the Orchestra under Stephen Kenna was really supportive with a demanding score and many changes of style. Stephen kept a good pace throughout.

Nikki Mundell-Poole should be extremely pleased with this production and must have worked so hard to produce one of the best shows I have seen at Witham.

Many congratulations. This felt very much like a real company effort which came across as such to the audience. I wish the society well with forthcoming productions.

Braintree and Witham Times Review

Love and chess, a dramatic mixture

On the face of it, chess is up there with fishing and dominoes as a likely subject for a dramatic musical. The number of people on the streets of Witham who could name the current world champion would probably fit into a telephone box.

But it was not always that way. In the early 1970s, chess made the front pages. And if you bad asked anyone in the street then to name a chess player, they would almost certainly have come up with Bobby Fischer and Boris Spassky.

It was the match between the two, and particularly the eccentric behaviour of the American challenger, that fired the public’s imagination and gave Tim Rice the idea for this musical.

His lyrics were brought to life by the sparkling choreography of Nikki Mundell-Poole. The evening opened and closed with the stage bathed in the black and white of the chessboard but, in between, the Tyrolean and Bangkok settings allowed for a wide spread of colours in the ensemble numbers.

A newcomer, a regular and a returner took the three main roles of the two chess players and the manager of one, who falls in love with the other. John Escott, David Slater and Jenni Leggett brought drama and pathos to the roles and coped superbly with Benny Andersson and Bjorn Ulvaeus’s exceedingly challenging musica1 score. Kathryn and Stewart Adkins brought their usual polished performances to the ro1es of Slater’s wife and his KGB handler, while Tim Sheppard, in his 53rd year with WAOS, and Tom Whelan stepped out of the shadows with aplomb as the American marketing guru and the arbiter.

At the other end of the age scale, the show offered opportunities to a number of the society’s younger members.

Ingenious use was also made of three giant screens, a first for the company, which show some of the action and background.

However, the complicated story, not helped by the fact that much of it is told by the chorus, and the dearth of well-known numbers led to more empty seats than is usual at a WAOS production. That was a shame as this was a high-standard evening that deserved better support

Pirates of Penzance 2008

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2008 - The Pirates of Penzance

BWT REVIEW
The Pirates Of Penzance
Witham Amateur Operatic Society
Public Hall, Witham

The Stars Shine on the First Night.

Here was a production with near-perfect staging. Two glorious fixed sets gave pirates, policemen and General Stanley's daughters plenty of room to manoeuvre.

Stars shone brightly, among them David Slater, the Pirate King, Patrick O'Brien's Major-General and Stewart Adkin's marvellous Max Wall-like Sergeant of Police. Shelly Fisher triumphantly reached Mabel's very high notes, and musical director Susannah Edom must have been well-pleased with their musicality.

Supporting these principals, who also included Matthew Lecznar's suitably youthful Frederic and Ann Wilson's determined Ruth, were well ¬balanced choruses ¬congratulations to their excellent efforts, too. Director Nicholas Clough and his assistant, Angela Briley, delivered an impressive first night.

~~Review by Pat Rudkins~~

NODA Report
PERFORMANCE OF 1ST NOVEMBER 2008

WITHAM A.O.S. - PIRATES OF PENZANCE
Director: Nicholas Clough, Assisted by: Angela Briley, Musical Director: Susannah Edom

Produced in traditional mode, but including many amusing touches this was a good evening. In the well lit and good looking settings of rocky beach and ruined chapel, the action duly unfolded, an early unusual highlight being Frederic’s Aria to the daughters being sung, down on one knee, ‘Elvis’ style, with an upturned pistol as microphone, to instant and insistent attention from the girls: the byplay set an ongoing mood. The major principals gave good overall performances, both in character and vocally, though Mabel did exhibit some tenseness in the upper register. Ruth suffered her range of emotions well, from rejection through revenge to consolation. The Pirate King bullied and blustered in style, Frederic came acoss well as about the right age, but with an appropriate air of immaturity. The Major General was fine, and fast, and understood! Other principals and chorus members played their part too, not only vocally, but also in the good reactions to what was going on around them. One always looks forward to the Policemen’s scenes and expectation was fully rewarded, led by a nimble and excellent Sergeant, complete with a respectable Cornish accent. The final confrontation between pirates and constabulary was very short indeed and nearer to representational than real. Perhaps the good quality of the costumes and swords was such that Health and Safety won the day.
I did so enjoy this production. Despite a few faults it was fun, the orchestra and music was fine and the atmosphere was great. Many thanks.

My Fair Lady

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2007 - My Fair Lady

My Fair Lady
Witham Amateur Operatic Society, Witham Public Hall

The first night of this production was in the finest tradition of musical theatre - put simply, it was superb.

Director and choreographer Cathy Court dealt with its huge scale in apparently effortless style. Ingenuously, the side aisles of the auditorium became an extension of the stage. I loved the cheeky, top-of-curtain heads and the numerous slick scene changes. What a cast - they could all move and stand well.

Musical director Richard Reed must have scarcely believed his luck at the high quality of the singing, from the harmonic household servants led by Liz Watson's Mrs Pierce, to Tim Clarke's grasp of the difficult range in Freddy Eynsford-Hill's “On The Street Where You Live” and Chris Cordelier's exuberant Alfred Doolittle.

Rachel Clapp was delightful, spot on the note, in the title role. Professor Higgins was outstanding; the resources that David Slater brought to this role showed he is an all-round performer. Both he and Nicholas Clough, who played Colonel Pickering, gave this Fair Lady real musicality.