SHOWTIME AND THE SPA BRIDLINGTON SUMMER REPERTORY SEASON
The Spa Bridlington will launch its 2014 summer repertory season this Thursday with a performance of Showtime the Musical II. This musical revue show takes the audience on a tour of celebrations and festivals from around the world – a world created on a beach from discarded luggage, flotsam and jetsam.
The journey starts in Coney Island; with a little circus freakery, before heading off to Peru for the summer solstice. Then straight off to Spain for the bulls and back to Yorkshire for the tapping scarecrows. A festival of all things beer precedes Diwali and Hallowe’en before pause to remember the fallen of the Great War.
Macy’s Thanksgiving Parade lifts the mood back up before bringing the first half to a close.
The second half sees the end of Christmas, the beginning of the Chinese year and love at the Oscars before people swoon over Casanova then return to England for a bit of Morris Dancing at May Day. Back off to Rio before landing, hippy-style, at Woodstock!
Showtime the Musical II reunites seven of the original cast members from last year’s enormously popular in-house production; including Oliver Wardle, a local schoolboy playing the drums at Woodstock. Three further cast members were recruited though auditions in London.
The look of the production is poles apart from last year. Kingsley Hall is the production designer and has worked on the West End musical Matilda and the recent all-male UK tour of HMS Pinafore. He has created a world based around the sun-bleached colours of a hot summer; basing the production on the beach with the a promenade behind.
Andrew Aldis, general manager of The Spa Bridlington and producer of the entire season said, “It’s been quite an endeavour pulling this show together from a twinkle of an idea ten months ago. Assembling a team with an enormous body of experience has certainly been key to creating some real magic on the stage. The show is colourful, atmospheric and, at times, gritty and will appeal to anyone.
“We took the decision last year to start producing our own shows in the summer rather than buying them in. This provides us with unique theatrical product and a huge leap in quality. It also provides a great springboard for young dancers from the Collette Tyler School of Dance the opportunity to work in an environment that is not unlike the rehearsals and performances they would experience in the West End.”
Showtime the Musical II is one of three shows to be performed by the same cast this summer.
The World’s Fair is a rearranged version of Showtime aimed at the matinee and coach trip markets. This production excludes elements of Showtime that involve the children and has its journey end in Rio.
Finally, to celebrate the completion of its refurbishment, The Spa Bridlington will be presenting a Noel Coward-themed production at Sewerby Hall. It will be a promenade performance; meaning the action takes place in various rooms around the house and the audience follow the performers around. It will be the first time that The Spa Bridlington have presented such a production.
Each performance of A Cowardly Night has space for 25 audience members and will last around an hour.
Showtime the Musical II previews on Wednesday 16 July, opens on Thursday 17 July and runs every Wednesday and Thursday evening until Thursday 4 September
The World’s Fair opens on Thursday 24 July at 2.30pm and runs every Thursday afternoon until Thursday 4 September.
A Cowardly Night opens on Friday 15 August and runs every Friday evening at 5.30pm, 7pm and 8.30pm until Friday 5 September. Tuesday evenings have been reserved if demand exceeds available space on Fridays.