SOMETHING TO SING AND DANCE ABOUT

SOMETHING TO SING AND DANCE ABOUT

Young Gen at the Civic Theatre

15.11.2014

A stage packed with young performers, singing, from memory, and dancing too. The confidence and the discipline they showed are a clue to the continuing success of CYGAMS, now celebrating forty-five years entertaining Chelmsford audiences.

This varied concert party began with their first ever show, Oliver: Consider Yourself splendidly done with some great characterizations and a bonus tap routine, and the showcase ended with a rousing One Day More. All directed by Jimmy Hooper, with choreography by Helen Millwood and Bryan Cass in charge of the music.

Opportunities to shine, and to gain invaluable performance experience, for members both seasoned and tyro. Often, as in the lovely arrangement of Over the Rainbow, roles were shared. Too many highlights to list, but standout work in the quartet for Somewhere, the cleverly staged “Loathing” from Wicked, both numbers from Miss Saigon, the massed forces for Seasons of Love.

Many challenges, too – not every number is easy to sell without the context of its show – none greater than the poetry and the complex scoring of Cats. Macavity and Memory both nicely done here, a foretaste of Young Gen's staging of the show in the Cramphorn next April. Already selling fast, I hear …

the image shows some of the cast in rehearsal