CUMTS Gala Night 2014

ADC Theatre, 8th February, 11 PM, £6/5.

CUMTS President Atri Banerjee’s Facebook page provided a colourful preview for the 2014 Gala Night:

This settled my fears

In any case, Banerjee was a hilarious host for the evening. “A World of Pure Imagination”, as the President notes early on, is a tenuous way of introducing a completely eclectic selection of musical theatre. And even if the vocals weren’t always flawless, the audience were thoroughly entertained by some fantastic spectacles, and some charming spoken interludes.

At the Lion King opening, the audience were subdued with some awkward Cindies memories (and slightly underwhelming vocals). However, after this the performers quickly began to bring more energy to the stage, and soon the theatre was buzzing from excessive sparkle (sparkle is probably the word).

It would be unfair not to mention Ben Glassberg, who conducts a fantastic band supremely and is fantastically full of life on stage. Musicians and singers gel smoothly and it’s all thanks to Glassberg. He too looked like he was having a brilliant time. There was no weak link, to the cast’s credit, but Henry Jenkinson merits some praise for his composition of “I Will Return”, and Lily Parham was also a stand-out performer. Sam Fairbrother’s feet had a star act as well.

The range of music suited everybody. Indeed, there was something there for every musical theatre geek. And by the end, the audience were all on their feet. No encores, but a few surprises were on the cards, and some fantastic dynamism flowed from the stage.

Lauren Hutchinson belting in the dress rehearsal (Photography: Chris Rowlands)

“A one night extravaganza of Shwartz and Sondheim to Schonberg and Styne complete with a full band and a good sprinkling of glitz and glamour” assessed CamDram. All in all, not a bad summary. The audience – just like the cast – had a fantastic time, erupting with rapturous applause over and over and over. The singing wasn’t always perfect, but the evening was solid and, most importantly, just really, really fun.