Broadway Bound Congress Theatre Eastbourne second viewing

The Rattonians

Broadway Bound

Congress Theatre

Eastbourne

21-31 July 2010

(2nd show seen 29 July)

Cast: The Rattonians (Seniors and Youth Group)

With a 32 mile round trip for us to see a show at the Congress Theatre it has to be something REALLY worth seeing again for us to go a second time.

My original review is here http://bit.ly/broadway-bound

In 2010 Broadway Bound is the only show that has met that standard so far and it will be very hard to beat, even by the 'professional' shows scheduled such as Oklahoma and Chitty Chitty Bang Bang.

The one aspect I hate about reviewing The Rattonians shows is the use of the words 'amateur' and 'professional' in the text. As anybody who has ever seen a Rattonian performance there is nothing amateur whatsoever about the end product.

Anybody who has ever put off seeing a Rattonians production because it's 'done by amateurs' is making a huge error of judgement.

Look you still have a couple of days to enjoy this two and a quarter hour spectacle. For between a mere £10 and £14.50 you will get to see a fantastic musical production, enjoy fabulous costumes, raise money for cancer research, encourage the continuation of Rattonians and, above all, have a bloody good night out.

We were not the only people watching this show a second time and our friend, who lives in Eastbourne, is seeing it a third time.

Who can blame him? Tickets for Chitty Chitty Bang Bang (which I daresay will be excellent) range between £15.50 and £38.50. If we lived in Eastbourne we would go again too.

It doesn't require a degree in maths to work out you could have 3 top price tickets for Broadway Bound for less than 1 top price Chitty Chitty Bang Bang Ticket.

Granted times are hard for 'professional' productions at the moment. Times are even harder for groups like these who haven't got the budget for mass advertising but need to get the word out. Even Eastbourne Theatres and Eastbourne Borough Council do not put anywhere as much effort into promoting this fantastic company as they do so called professional productions.

Calendar Girls was advertised everywhere, even driving into Eastbourne Hannah Waterman's bottom greeted you on lamp posts. The Rattonians have the odd poster placed here and there in venues.

EBTheatres official tweets on Twitter have promoted all the 'major' productions this year but on no occasion have The Rattonians, Eastbourne Stagers or Eastbourne Operatic and Dramatic (EODS) society been mentioned once. So much for 'social networking'! Whilst I understand that the professional shows are the ones that would generate the income for the venues these three theatre companies accommodate many of the stars of tomorrow.

You could hardly blame any of them if they went on to tour the UK professionally to then turn their back on Eastbourne as a venue as the publicity is so biased away from 'amateur shows'

The biggest misconception that I heard quoted at a recent event by an official source is 'everybody knows The Rattonians audience is mainly made up of the friends and families of the cast members'. I don't think that is the case at all because over the past 25+ years the Rattonians have managed to raise awareness by word of mouth - something we do too, taking friends along to many shows. Our elderly friend now eagerly anticipates the next production. But if the person who made the comment seriously believes that their comment was true the blame partly lies with them because the position they hold enables them to do something about it, if they wanted to.

Well folks 1900 unique visitors have read these reviews in July 2010 and there are now nearly 5000 links on the web to this blog and I will continue my stance of promoting The Rattonians and Eastbourne's other groups at every opportunity both here and on fdpt.org.uk

Meanwhile I wish a generous commercial sponsor or benefactor would come along to ensure The Rattonians can continue to produce the brilliant productions they have staged in Eastbourne for the last quarter of a century. If these wonderful shows stopped it would be a tragedy for all, not least the worthwhile charities for whom The Rattonians have raised thousands of pounds.

Rant over. But please see Broadway Bound before it ends - you may just surprise yourself and enjoy it!

The Rattonians Broadway Bound Congress Theatre Eastbourne Review

The Rattonians

Broadway Bound

Congress Theatre

Eastbourne

21-31 July 2010

(show seen 22 July)

Cast: The Rattonians (Seniors and Youth Group)

Compilations of hit musical numbers is a bit of an "in thing" at the moment with productions like In The Spotlight touring the country and Gotta Sing Gotta Dance starting its 2010 tour shortly.

The audience numbers for the show we saw was disappointing. Some were saying in the foyer that they thought the lack of attendance was down to this choice of show rather than a full musical production ,as is normally the case. Especially as The Rattonians Christmas show is a similar production but obviously with Christmas hits added.

There certainly may be something in that argument but if anybody really decided not to see this 2 hour+ extravaganza for that reason it's a shame. You missed a fabulous show.

The two acts were split according to the musicals geographic location. The first half dedicated to Europe and in the second half the USA got its chance with all the hits from Broadway.

I must get a mention in on the costumes which were incredible. The costume team had clearly been working overtime creating so many beautifully made and colourful creations.

Highlights? Goodness it seems unfair to single people out from this talented group but for me the performance of We Are What We Are (La Cage Aux Folles) cannot be forgotten. Memorable not just because it was vocally great but also perhaps because it was a little worrying that the lads were so good at applying make-up and dressing up as women. Alex Adams had done such a good job that if he went out at night in Eastbourne dressed like that the consequences could be interesting.

I have to say this was a great show for the hugely talented Alex who performed many other musical hits. These were topped off with an incredible performance accompanied by Thomas Hackett, James Moy and Barnaby Pout as The Four Seasons (Jersey Boys). Wow! What an incredible vocal delivery that was by all involved but Alex's high-note-precision was simply outstanding and pitch-perfect.

Great to see Barnaby and Paula Pout (who is also the vocal coach) playing a large part in this show too. The husband and wife team ,who entertain professionally as "Duality", have a great sound and stage presence.

Like son Alex, Melanie Adams has many chances to shine in this production all of which are great but Just In Love (Call Me Madam) which she performs with the brilliant Thomas Hackett was my favourite.

Over The Rainbow (Wizard Of Oz) is a song that can easily be ruined fortunately young Meggie Dennis doesn't know how to ruin songs and got one of the loudest rounds of applause of the evening.

Look I could waffle on forever as hits from more than 35 musicals are in this fantastic show.

So there's no excuse for sitting in a hotel room in Eastbourne when you have a brilliant summer show which is not only excellent but where the profits go to Cancer Research.

So go on, get out, see a great show and support a worthy cause at the same time.