REVIEW
✭✭✭✭✭ 5/5
Southend Scout & Guide 30th Gang Show
2024
Palace Theatre, Westcliff on Sea, Essex
Friday 23 Feb 2024 - Sat 24 Feb 2024
✭✭✭✭✭ 5/5
Southend Scout & Guide 30th Gang Show
2024
Palace Theatre, Westcliff on Sea, Essex
Friday 23 Feb 2024 - Sat 24 Feb 2024
What can be better on a wet, miserable night than to go to the theatre and see a crowd of young people joyously performing on stage? This year they are performing their 30th Gang Show, and what a production it is.
I have to admit that I’ve never seen a Gang Show although I was in the Girl Guides for about two weeks. I thought they were like Ralph Reader’s productions, seen on TV in the past, but things have definitely moved on since then.
This one opened with a spectacular cast of glittering youngsters moving across the stage singing One from A Chorus Line. You knew then, that you were going to have a brilliant evening. It was followed by tap dancing, ballet dancing, hip-hop and even a medley of Elton John songs complete with pianist in extravagant headwear. There were amusing comedy sketches including an old Morecombe and Wise one. Also, a very funny rendition of the Scottish song Angus McDonald. I still laugh when I think of the team of raggle taggle Scottish soldiers marching across the stage.
We are even taken through scenes of musical film history from Top Hat to West Side Story. Whilst the past is brought to life in a museum with a Dinosaur, Romans, and Egyptians singing jaunty songs ending with Henry VIII’s wives singing Six. The first half concluded in the Victorian era as everyone liked to be by the seaside, and seagulls flew over the auditorium.
There was even a trip down memory lane with some of the Ralph Reader Gang Show numbers. As no Gang Show would be complete without the famous Riding Along on the Crest of the Wave there it was.
The show covered all kinds of musical genres with great imagination all accompanied by live music under the direction of Jo Brown.
The packed audience were enjoying every minute of it, clapping along and by the beaming, shining faces on the stage, the performers were too.
Apparently, Scouts and Guides of all ages, from very small to adult size, have been rehearsing the variety show for six months; it is very tight, with excellent teamwork.
As the whole venture is an ensemble production, it is impossible to single out any of the youngsters, but there were some very confident sparky performances. I must also compliment the Choreography team of Debbie Daws and Zoe Norris on moving eighty young artistes around the stage. In addition, there was an enormous amount of costume changes, so the Wardrobe Team must have been frantically organising everything behind the scenes.
The enthusiasm of the young people was a delight to see. One look at their happy smiling faces made you forget the horrible weather outside. The audience left the theatre, happily chatting about how much they enjoyed the show. There is entertainment for all the family; you don’t have to be involved with Scouting and Guiding to be part of the experience.
If, you want a good night out, book your tickets now.
Review: Jacquee Storozynski-Toll
The Gang Show continues on Friday 23 Feb 2024 - Sat 24 Feb 2024
7.30pm, 2.30pm, Friday - 6pm (Mat: Thursday & Saturday)
Tickets: £14 - £18.50
A transaction fee of up to £3.95 may apply to your order.
Box Office: 0343 310 0030
I have to admit that I’ve never seen a Gang Show although I was in the Girl Guides for about two weeks. I thought they were like Ralph Reader’s productions, seen on TV in the past, but things have definitely moved on since then.
This one opened with a spectacular cast of glittering youngsters moving across the stage singing One from A Chorus Line. You knew then, that you were going to have a brilliant evening. It was followed by tap dancing, ballet dancing, hip-hop and even a medley of Elton John songs complete with pianist in extravagant headwear. There were amusing comedy sketches including an old Morecombe and Wise one. Also, a very funny rendition of the Scottish song Angus McDonald. I still laugh when I think of the team of raggle taggle Scottish soldiers marching across the stage.
We are even taken through scenes of musical film history from Top Hat to West Side Story. Whilst the past is brought to life in a museum with a Dinosaur, Romans, and Egyptians singing jaunty songs ending with Henry VIII’s wives singing Six. The first half concluded in the Victorian era as everyone liked to be by the seaside, and seagulls flew over the auditorium.
There was even a trip down memory lane with some of the Ralph Reader Gang Show numbers. As no Gang Show would be complete without the famous Riding Along on the Crest of the Wave there it was.
The show covered all kinds of musical genres with great imagination all accompanied by live music under the direction of Jo Brown.
The packed audience were enjoying every minute of it, clapping along and by the beaming, shining faces on the stage, the performers were too.
Apparently, Scouts and Guides of all ages, from very small to adult size, have been rehearsing the variety show for six months; it is very tight, with excellent teamwork.
As the whole venture is an ensemble production, it is impossible to single out any of the youngsters, but there were some very confident sparky performances. I must also compliment the Choreography team of Debbie Daws and Zoe Norris on moving eighty young artistes around the stage. In addition, there was an enormous amount of costume changes, so the Wardrobe Team must have been frantically organising everything behind the scenes.
The enthusiasm of the young people was a delight to see. One look at their happy smiling faces made you forget the horrible weather outside. The audience left the theatre, happily chatting about how much they enjoyed the show. There is entertainment for all the family; you don’t have to be involved with Scouting and Guiding to be part of the experience.
If, you want a good night out, book your tickets now.
Review: Jacquee Storozynski-Toll
The Gang Show continues on Friday 23 Feb 2024 - Sat 24 Feb 2024
7.30pm, 2.30pm, Friday - 6pm (Mat: Thursday & Saturday)
Tickets: £14 - £18.50
A transaction fee of up to £3.95 may apply to your order.
Box Office: 0343 310 0030