On Wed 12th July Cheryl received an email from Neil Smith explaining a group had dropped out of the G&S festival at the last minute. They had been booked to perform The Gondoliers on 14th Aug , and Paul Lazel , who provided the scenery for us at WPT, mentioned to Neil that we had just performed Gondoliers. Was there any way we could fill in ?
Cheryl and Sue met with him on Sat 15th July and discussed how impossible it might be!!. However, after a lot of emails, we found we had a core group of principals and chorus available, with only 8 missing out of a cast of 40!
Both Linda and Eric could go and back stage support Rob, Lynsey, Buzz, Sue and George . Why were we not all going on holiday !!
Reporting back to Neil, he offered the finance for the costume, set and prop hire, accommodation for us and travelling expenses . We were doing him a massive favour as they had already sold tickets at the Royal hall for the performance .
However we decided would not enter into the competition as it was all a bit rushed and too much pressure and stress to absorb at such short notice.
Jenny took on the task of negotiating and arranging everything which was a bit of a nightmare, but on Sunday 13th August we all made our way up to Harrogate .
We rehearsed on Sunday and had two extra chorus members, Sharon -Eric’s wife and Tobin, a guy from Canada who had come over to the festival and was looking for a group to perform with. So Neil put him in touch with us and they were both very quick learners .
Alex stood in for Andris and Frank made himself useful, when not playing Luiz, boosting the male chorus.
Buzz made herself extremely useful plotting the lighting and Rob & Lindsey and the crew sorted the stage and props while we rehearsed again on Monday and, after a quick lunch, we reacquainted ourselves with our costumes ready for the dress rehearsal at 2.30pm.
The Orchestra were briefed by Eric and the whole thing went quite well with not many notes from Eric and Linda!
It was at this stage that Linda suggested we could enter into the competition.
After a little debate between the committee members present and our president, we decided to compete.
So at about 6.45pm we informed the festival we were happy to be adjudicated. The performance went well and we all stayed on stage to receive our adjudication!
Andrew Nicklin was very complimentary all round and we left feeling elated (after a very quick get out, all the props costumes and scenery re loaded into vans) then off to Wetherspoons for a couple of glasses of prosecco and cheers all round!
After a breakfast/ coffee at Bettys (we did go to bed though in between) we made our way home -tired but very happy.
It was about Wednesday that our thoughts turned to the awards ceremony on Sat 19th at 5pm . Would we be nominated, could we win something ? It would be a shame if no-one was there to accept an award.
We made a few surreptitious enquires to see if we had any nominations and the reply came back …. Oh make sure you are there and sit near the front!
Sue and Gordon were due to travel up to the midlands on Sunday and after a few changes to arrangements they went up on Saturday to attend the ceremony.
So there we were with a few other groups … and the nominations and awards came flooding in -12 out of 17!!
Best Duet: Mabel and Frederick (Pirates, Peak)
Casilda and Luiz (Gondoliers, Abbots Langley)
Phyllis and Strephon (Iolanthe, Savoynet)
Winner – Rose & Robin (Ruddigore, Ploverleigh)
Costumes:
Ruddigore, Ploverleigh
Sorcerer, WWOS
Patience, Bus Pass
Winner: Gondoliers, ALGSS
Animated Chorus:
Ruddigore, Ploverleigh
Gondoliers, Abbots Langley
Winner – Yeomen, NewLOG
Female Performer:
Mad Margaret, Ploverleigh
Aline, WWOS
Mabel, Peak
Winner – Phyllis, Savoynet
Male Performer:
Robin Oakapple, Ploverleigh
Colonel Calverley, Bus Pass
Grosvenor, Bus Pass
Winner – Geoffrey Farrer, Duke, ALGSS
Best Traditional Opera
Yeomen newLOG
Patience, Bus Pass
Winner – Gondoliers, ALGSS
Concerted Item
Madrigal, Ruddigore, Ploverleigh
Act 2 Finale Trio Yeomen, NewLOG
Act 1 finale sextet, Patience, Bus Pass
Winner – Cachucha, Gondoliers, Abbots Langley
Supporting Actress
Partlet, WWOS
Lady S, WWOS
Duchess, ALGSS
Winner – Danielle Cresswell, Tessa, ALGSS
Supporting Actor:
Notary, WWOS
Lemuel, Peak
Private Willis, Savoynet
Winner – Despard, Ploverleigh
Best Chorus:
Yeomen, NewLOG
Gondoliers, ALGSS
Winner – Ruddigore, Ploverleigh
Best Director:
Ruddigore, Ploverleigh
Yeomen, NewLOG
Winner – Linda Dyne, Gondoliers, ALGSS
Best Musical Director:
Ruddigore, Ploverleigh
Patience, Bus Pass
Winner – Iolanthe, Savoynet
Character Actress:
Constance, WWOS
Phoebe, NewLOG
Lady Jane, Bus Pass
Winner – Fairy Queen, Savoynet
Character Actor
Sir Marmaduke, WWOS
Don Alhambra, ALGSS
Lord Chancellor, Savoynet
Winner – Robin Oakapple, Ploverleigh
Best Female Voice:
Mabel, Peak
Phyllis, Savoynet
Patience, Bus Pass
Winner – Elsie, NewLOG
Best Male Voice
Robin Oakapple, Ploverleigh
Despairs, Ploverleigh
Tolloller, Savoynet
Winner: Marco, Gordon Hodges ALGSS
International Champions
Winner: Gondoliers, ALGSS
Second Runner Up: Yeomen, NewLOG
First Runner Up: Ruddigore, Ploverleigh
Congratulations to ALL who made this possible !!