Magic Night at the Musicals
Great High School Talent Showcased
Aylsham Parish Church was the place to be on Saturday 3rd June, when past and present pupils from Aylsham High School, presented another in their series of songs and music from the musical theatre repertoire. The school has built an enviable reputation for producing varied and highly entertaining programmes in this genre and Saturday night was certainly no exception. Backed by a hard-working team, led by Tanya Wiseman, 12 past and present students presented a wide range of numbers from long-running shows such as Les Miserables, The Threepenny Opera, Annie, A Chorus Line, Grease, Oliver! and more recent ones like Six, Barbie as the Island Princess, Hercules, The Princess and The Frog and Heathers. The legendary stories of Rudyard Kipling featured in a song from Just So, we took a ride on a hair-raising fairground attraction in a number from Ride the Cyclone, the recently late, lamented and great Stephen Sondheim’s, Into the Woods was there, as was a 2019 song by Joey Contreras, Break from the Line, which highlighted the challenges of trying to be discovered in the world of show business, a challenge which some of the performers plan to take up. It was indeed, a fabulous evening of entertainment, and it will be fascinating to see how many of this talented group become the stars of tomorrow!
The audience and performers were welcomed by the Rector, Rev. Canon Julie Boyd and the evening was compered by local restaurateur/businessman and patron of the charity TACT, Charlie Hodson. He also, before the concert started, talked of and showed a video about the work of TACT (The Aylsham Community Trust – Families), the important work it does across eight local schools and for which it acts as an umbrella fundraising and support organisation. In the programme he wrote: “……it’s about helping every child to be the best, they can be” and “… helping the well-being of each child and supporting their families”.
Proceeds from ticket sales and the raffle totalled over £380 and all of that is to be donated by the school to TACT.
Julie Boyd said: “As far as Aylsham Church is concerned, the talented pupils of the High School are always welcome to take part in our programme of Music & Events, itself an important element of our continuing strategy to place the Church at the centre of the Aylsham community”.
