For a number of reasons WODS Committee has needed to reconsider our show selection for the Spring 2025 production, previously announced to be "Oliver!". We are very excited to announce that we have amended the show selection and have successfully been granted a licence to perform "Dirty Rotten Scoundrels" from 29th April to 3rd May 2025. We are also pleased to announce that Chris Holloway has been appointed to Direct our production, and with Sheila Boniface as Musical Director. Chris and Sheila have worked together on a number of previous WODS productions, including our NODA award-winning production of "Oklahoma!" and the recently NODA award-nominated "The Sound of Music" - we find out soon if we've won! WODS Committee still expect "Oliver!" to return to our forward programme of shows in the near future, as we are aware many members will have been eager to perform in the show. Unfortunately though it is not possible to perform the show in Spring 2025.
A bit about the show ... "Dirty Rotten Scoundrels", based on the popular 1988 film starring Steve Martin and Michael Caine, takes us to the French Riviera for high jinks and hilarity. Sophisticated, suave with a good dash of mischief, this hysterical musical comedy features a delightfully jazzy score by David Yazbek (The Full Monty) and was nominated for a staggering eleven Tony Awards. Lawrence Jameson makes his lavish living by talking rich ladies out of their money. Freddy Benson more humbly swindles women by waking their compassion with fabricated stories about his grandmother's failing health. After meeting on a train, they attempt to work together, only to find that this small French town isn't big enough for the two of them. They agree on a settlement: the first one to extract $50,000 from a young female target, heiress, Christine Colgate, wins, and the other must leave town. A hilarious battle of cons ensues that will keep audiences laughing, humming and guessing to the end!
Of course before all that ...We have "Me and My Girl", now in it's final weeks of rehearsals and set to take to the stage from 16th to 20th April 2024. Make sure you have your tickets booked for what we expect to be a tremendously fun night of musical theatre entertainment with toe-tapping tunes and plenty of hilarity.
And then audition workshops for "Sister Act" (to be staged from 8th to 12th October 2024) will be held on Tue 30th April, Wed 1st May, Tue 7th May and Wed 8th May from 7.30pm each evening, and auditions on Sunday 12th May 2024 from 1pm onwards. We are very fortunate to have another experienced team for this production - Chris Hooper is due to Direct, with Rachel Price as Choreographer, and we welcome Laurence Nicholas as Musical Director for the first time for WODS although he has worked with other groups in the area. We look forward to welcoming everyone for the audition workshops in due course.