Gotta Sing Gotta Dance 2009 Devonshire Park Theatre Eastbourne Review 2

Gotta Sing Gotta Dance (2009)
A Magical Night At The Musicals
12 August-5th September
Devonshire Park Theatre Eastbourne
(Then touring)

Performance seen Tuesday 1st Sept
(previous performance seen 18th August)

Performers

(in appearance order)

Stephanie Anelli
Verity Bentham
Lucinda Lawrence
Carrie Sutton
Barnaby Thompson
Ashley Jake Trow

The Band

Musical Director/Keyboards Robert Cousins
Drums/Percussion Ollie Boorman
Reeds/ Keys 2 Andy Stewart
Bass Chris Gardiner

No I haven't lost the plot completely. I know I've already reviewed the original show seen a few weeks back. If you didn't see the review there's a link here

http://celebritygreenroom.blogspot.com/2009/08/gotta-sing-gotta-dance-2009-devonshire.html

Anyway Gotta Sing Gotta Dance - A magical night at the musicals left such a good impression on us that we did indeed book another show.

In fact, as it stands, it looks like this is the only multi-night-show that will achieve this accolade from us in 2009.

So how was the show the second time around? Was it like going back to a holiday destination you've been to before only to find it's not quite as magical on the repeat visit?

Not in the slightest.

Producer Chris Jordan, the cast and crew have had more than 3 weeks to "tweak" things in Eastbourne before going on an intense national tour, comprising totally of one night shows. As a result it is apparent this theatrical equivalent of a fine piece of furniture has had a final gleaming application of wax polish before its national unveiling.

But hey... if you are contemplating this show on tour.......don't take my word for it. Behind us last night was a lady and, I assume, her mother. They were staying in Eastbourne for just a couple of days. After the first half alone she mentioned she was going to look at seeing the show again as it was going to be touring near her home.

A group heading backstage to meet Lucinda after the show commented "It works so well because it looks as though they all have fun working together and get along. I bet they have a great time!" That's exactly the way it looks and it conveys to the audience.

Take The Stage, the respected weekly newspaper and their website for those in the acting industry. They don't hold back on reviews. If it's rubbish they'll slate it, if it's mediocre they make it clear. In fact it's quite an outstanding achievement to get a glowing review with The Stage.

But Gotta Sing Gotta Dance in 2009 has achieve just that. Barbara Champion's review (20th August) is glowing with praise, not picking up a single critisism. I quote just the final 2 sentences "The fast romp through the West End shows causes much laughter and the compilation from the sixties productions is a sure hit. The finale mixture brought several encores and this well-directed and wonderful show deserves many more."

Another indication of how well a show is doing is how many people are in the audience. With the current recession this year there have been many long-run shows that have been lucky to have a couple of hundred people in the audience. Yet last night just 3 days before the end of the Eastbourne run the show still had a respectable 4-500 people in the audience. I guess favourable word-of-mouth recommendations and positive reviews must have some effect as the majority of these tickets seemed to be being purchased on the evening rather than being prebooked.

If the show can repeat nationally what it has done in Eastbourne it could prove one of the most popular touring shows of the year. I hope so because the cast work hard, it's a long tiring show, the tour is long and intensive and they all deserve it to be a national success.

I certainly think this is the feel-good-show of 2009 and touring in the run up to Christmas this would make a great night out for office staff etc.

Anyway was tonights performance flawless? No of course not - that's what's great about live entertainment - it's not what goes wrong it's how professionally it's dealt with. Tonight's only noticeable minor flaw was Barnaby and a cane heading in opposite directions on the stage. But you'd have thought it was meant to happen as Stephane returned the cane at an appropriate moment with a friendly exchange of comic banter that was just completely natural and professional.

Well that's 2 glowing reviews for 1 great show but now having met the delightful, friendly, cast the least I can do is publish the substantial tour dates.

Don't miss a great show if it's appearing near you....

Gotta Sing Gotta Dance 2009 National Tour

September
15 Southend, Cliffs Pavilion
16 Lichfield. Garrick Theatre
17 york, Grand Opera House
18 Manchester, Palace Theatre
20 Dartford, Orchard
21 Swindon, Wyvern theatre
30 Sunderland, Empire Theatre

October
1. Consett, Empire Theatre
2 Stirling, Albert Halls
3 Whitley Bay, Playhouse
4 Kings Lynn, Corn exchange
6 Hayes, The Beck
7 Torquay, Princes Theatre
8 Christ Church, Regent Theatre
10 Darlington, Civic Theatre
11 Halifax, Victoria Theatre
13 Peterborough, Key Theatre
14 Dunstable, Grove Theatre
15 Stoke, Victoria Halls
16 Skegness, Embassy Theatre
17 Retford, Majestic Theatre
20 Hereford, The Courtyard
21 Hull, New Theatre
22 New Brighton, Floral Pavilion
23 Birmingham, Alexandra Theatre
24 Radlett, Radlett Theatre
26 Norwich, Playhouse
28 Worthing, Pavilion Theatre
30 Guildford, Yvonne Arnaud
31 Lowestoft, Marina Theatre

November
1 Reading, Hexagon
3 Bolton, Albert Halls
4 Blackpool, Grand Theatre
5 Doncaster, Civic Theatre
6 Aberdare, The Coliseum
7 Weston-Super-Mare, Playhouse
8 St Albans, Alban arena
10 Oldham, Coliseum
11 Buxton, Opera House
12 Lincoln, Theate Royal
13 Tunbridge Wells, Assembly Hall Theatre
14 Potters Bar, Wyllyotts Theatre
16 Wakefield, theatre Royal
17 Grimsby, Grimsby Auditorium
18 Wellingborough, Castle
19 Camberley, Camberley Theatre

Please excuse any typos and inaccuracies in the above information which has been obtained from the tour programme

As I said before Gotta Sing Gotta Dance... Gotta See It!

Print This Entry