1997
The Pinchpenny Phantom of the Opera
"Title still to come"
Review still to come
Review to come. Fran thinks she has all the reviews, but she can't find some of them. We are still looking. In the meantime, isn't that a nice poster.
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Annie
(Megan Hendy for Miss Hannigan)
The Messenger, Tuesday 22nd July 1997
Russell STARKE
This is the best amateur musical I have seen this year.
Directors Brian Godfrey and Fran Edwards handle a cast of thousands with considerable skill Confidence and enthusiasm are the optimistic keynotes for the whole company in a well dressed and choreographed show full of set and character changes
Brilliantly good is the small and very youthful orchestra under the tight control of talented young David Keen.
They provide a splendid sound, not only throughout this terrific little show, but give the added bonus of reprising most of the songs after it so that the audience really does not want to leave.
In a show about an orphan kid looking for her parents and finding hope and love for others along the way to riches as the adopted child of billionaire Daddy Warbucks, you'd have to expect a big dob of sentimental precocity in a tribe of little girls playing at being orphans.
I don't know how the directors have done it, but the eleven I saw avoid the sugar floss potential and deliver their song and dance routines like veteran stagers, a wonderful potential new crop of future performers for Northern Light.
Star of course is Annie, the redhead everybody loves, giving a beautiful performance by the vivacious Dannielle Barber (alternating with Teagan Gully, heading another tribe of orphans on other nights).
Competing with the charm of orphans, not to mention Sandy the dog, is no mean feat, but the adult cast fare very well indeed.
Megan Hendy is a rip-snorting, gin swigging, roly poly, raucous, maudlin and mendacious Miss Hannigan, boss of the orphanage from which our heroine escapes.
Not afraid to expose her ample bloomers, Hendy punches out the songs in a big, generous, warts and all performance.
Vaughan Harmer, big, bluff and bald, looks exactly right as the richest man in depression-ridden USA. His powerful style is matched with a good big voice and a pleasant acting style.
Mandi Hill makes a petite Grace Farrell, secretary to the big man and go between with the orphanage.
Richard Trengove and Ceri Hutton are a well matched pair of con merchants as Rooster Hannigan and Lily St. Regis. Trengove particularly I'd like to see more of in other roles.
The songs are singable and toe tappable, the show looks great, the cast really know why they're on stage, and everybody has a wonderful time.
Review, Advertiser Monday 21July 1997
Sarah THOMAS
It's been a while since this feel-good musical hit a local stage but Annie remains a firm favourite with musical-lovers. While Northern Light's script left a bit to be desired, it wasn't the dialogue the audience had come for. They had come for the songs Tomorrow, Easy Street, Maybe and the like. And Northern Light didn't disappoint.
Directors Brian Godfrey and Fran Edwards have assembled a classy group for this production and there are some very fine musical performances among them particularly that of 11-year-old Tegan Gully, who played Annie on opening night.
Gully performs alternate nights with Dannielle Barber and was a sensation. Such a big voice from such a small girl was just astonishing. From the moment she belted out Maybe, she asserted herself as a confident and more than capable performer who obviously enjoyed herself throughout the show, despite the terrible wig she had to wear.
Supporting her was a fabulous group of young performers playing the orphans. From tiny Joanna Reppucci, who stole the show and the hearts of the audience with her forthright portrayal of the youngest orphan Molly, these young girls worked with confidence, precision and just the right amount of precociousness.
Their horrible "warden"" Miss Hannigan was played by Megan Hendy, who was drunk and debauched and over-acting terribly, but managed to pull it off, while Vaughan Harmer gave an under-stated but sincere and lovely portrayal of Oliver Warbucks.
Under the musical direction of David Keen, the orchestra was thankfully, spot-on. The only problems were the occasional lack of sound, when some of the solo performances needed to be amplified.
The sets, however, were a disappointment. Location changes were depicted by painted back-drop curtains and a few pieces of furniture and many scenes came up looking shabby, particularly the inside of Miss Hannigans office and the supposedly lavish Warbucks mansion.
Ceri Horner, Richard Trengove, And Megan Hendy
as Lily, Rooster and Miss Hannigan
Ceri Horner, Teegan Gully, And Richard Trengove as Lily, Annie, And Rooster
Joanna Rupucci as A casts Molly
How to Succeed in Business
Without Really Trying
"There's no business like show business"
Review Messenger Press Oct 1997
Matt BYRNE
Here's a marathon for both cast and audience.
This milestone musical about the entertaining rocket-ride up the corporate ladder by eager young business beaver J Pierpont Finch - with his book calculating his every move - won the Pulitzer Prize for its Abe Burrowes libretto.
And the music, from Frank Loesser is superb, with such numbers as Brotherhood of Man, The Company Way, and One Paris Original, still as fresh as daisies. Director Brian Godfrey has cast the show well, with Michael Williams in exceptional form as the fast-thinking Finch - his rendition of Rosemary and I believe in You are superb - and Pauline Cooney revives the great Northern Light tradition of top sopranos, as the ambitious Rosemary.
David Winston scores as the Ivy-clad JB Biggley, Paul Standingford is a smarmy standout as the "under-the pump" Bud Frump, Mandi Hill makes a gritty Smitty and Tamar Sharman shows promise in the plum role of Hedy la Rue.
Choreographer Kerreane Wilkinson gives her best effort yet, the chorus more than earn their coffee breaks, and Mark Horner supplies baton gusto with his average white band.
But this show must be trimmed immediately. It finished at 11.20pm and that's longer than some marriages last these days.
Even the curtain calls don't flow, which at the end of an endless evening is inexcusable.
It's a shame because there is much to like about this production, but tough decisions have to be made about which bits must go to improve the rest.
The lighting is patchy at best, the scene changes are laboured and sloppy, the show lacks any set design or focus and its fair to say at the end it's "been a long, been a long, been a long day!"