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Our present direction 'team' continues to strive to keep our standards up to scratch.
Over the years, soloists, members of the chorus, backstage helpers, directors and
musical directors have come and gone, but the spirit and enthusiasm which Eric Matthews
and those founder members brought to our early efforts is as strong as ever. May
it continue to thrive in the society for many more years of success -
As well as performing Pirates of Penzance at the Garrick Theatre, Altrincham we also performed a concert of a selection of Gilbert and Sullivans productions as part of the opening ceremony for the new Sale Civic Centre.
About 2pm we started the dress rehearsal. With Chris Yate now in his familiar position of Musical Director and a professional orchestra under his control we began with Act 2. It all seemed so flat and nerves were starting to show, missed entrances, forgotten words, missed cues! Act 1 began with much more exuberance, the opening number with the fan dance went well and things picked up slightly with Chris pulling back anything that didn't sound up to the normally high standard achieved.
The evening performance started with a flourish, the men delivering a powerful fan dance number. KoKo;s little list (with his own interpretation) had the audience rolling with laughter. The show went up a gear and was thoroughly enjoyed by a nearly full Opera hpuse.
We were nominated for an award in the "Most Traditional Performance". We were all extremely pleased that Alison Davis won the "Best Female Actress" as Katisha.
Our major yearly performance for 2007 consisted of ‘The Zoo’ and ‘HMS Pinafore’. The Zoo had never been performed by the society so proved to be a new and enjoyable challenge to all concerned. Music by Mr Sullivan and words by Bolton Rowe The Zoo was a delightful 40 minute performance that gave the chorus a great opportunity to develop there individual characters. A very well received performance throughout show week, some people remarked that they enjoyed it so much they wished it was longer!
HMS Pinafore was also well received, with Alistair Donkin working the male chorus hard they finally delivered a well drilled performance. The ladies chorus not only sang well but their costumes were very well designed, each with their own individuality. All principals delivered strong performances and with a strong chorus supporting them this show was performed at the high standard that is expected of Sale G and S.
2009 saw the return of The Gondoliers. With the support of Manchester University G and S Society (MUGSS) we were able to boost our numbers for this performance. For the society this was financially a difficult year, we needed to break even or make a profit to continue. With this in mind everyone pulled together and we not only made The Gondoliers an excellent show which also led to the “Best Comedy Performance” award being presented to John Mathias by the Manchester Music Awards, but we also managed to sell more tickets thus successfully achieving a small profit. So we are now looking forward to performing Iolanthe in 2010.
In the same year the society put on a small production of Old Time Music hall. With a reduced number of members the night went down a storm with over 110 people attending Montague Rd, which also gave the audience the opportunity to sing along. The night also gave an opportunity for many chorus members to sing individual verses or songs.
So as the year roles on we will be doing a concert for a Daveyhulme gold club, a quiz and combined performance with SALE Operatic. All this will continue to raise the profile of the Society. Our next production will be Pirates but in Oct 2012.