This two act musical was written by Malcolm Henty and his granddaughter Bethany Wood. It was performed over three nights by the cast of ACT2 and their friends in Axmouth Village Hall to raise money for CRY in memory of a young mum Ali Ostler from the village and Malcolm’s niece Natalie, who both died of SADS.
Originally they wanted to do Grease but the American owners have put a block on this being done by anyone other than schools. So the next best thing was to write their own. The kids loved performing it and it was a huge success.
After a nervy opening night and a few technical hitches on the Friday, the young cast aged between 10 and 14 just got better and better and the Saturday night sell out audience were treated to a brilliant show which received a standing ovation. Not satisfied with this the cast went missing after the final curtain and were found in the local pub singing and passing the hat around.
They cannot be praised too highly for the time and effort that they put into this show, they even raised the money for the scenery and costumes by acting as waiters and waitresses at a meal in the village hall.
It is impossible to pick out the stars as they all had their moments. Pacha Woodland and Victoria Herrity gave an excellent display as the two old ladies narrating the story; Callum Wood and Ben Franklin as the roadies with an eye for the girls and David Goodhew as Mr Danny D Vee – the number one rock n roll star – were all superb.
Megan Spiller, Chloe Yates and Katie Walker portrayed the Pop Sox backing group in fine style. The Village Girls Bethany Wood (co-writer), Shelby West and Devon Foster all were excellent. Newcomer Kalim Thompson as the old barber and Taylor West as the Council Lady got better with each performance and their performance of “It’s the rent that they want” on the Saturday was brilliant.
One pleasing thing was how they all tackled the songs which were all old ones. There were around 20 songs and all but a few had new lyrics written to reflect the show’s storyline. Bethany with her two solos and Pacha with hers, both shone.
The backstage staff all did a splendid job, from the ladies doing the raffle through to the man pulling the curtains. Special thanks must go to Lyn Richardson and Dawn Yates for their time and the choreography; Doris Clement for the scenery and to Juliette for the superb costumes.
This is the second year running that the kids have done a charity show. Last year they raised over £800 for the local air ambulance and this year they raised a fantastic £1,021 for CRY.
Malcolm (co-writer and director)
