Exciting “Songs from the Shows” Concert at Shipston Proms

Fiona Bates & Arthur Taylor

As part of the 17^th Shipston Proms Helen Porter (Musical Director/piano) had put together an interesting and challenging selection of acts singing popular show tunes. The event took place in the Townsend Hall in Shipston-on-Stour on Friday 3^rd July, in front of a large and appreciative audience.

Proms host Tim Porter started off the show with the Cotswold Concertiers (Martin Hannant, Arthur Taylor, Diana Dodd, Fiona Bates and Debbie Radley) with songs from Rodgers & Hammerstein’s Carousel including a harmony version of the Liverpool FC anthem “You’ll Never Walk Alone”.

Later in the concert individual/selected members of the Cotswold Concertiers sang Belle Notte (Lady and the Tramp), Baby Mine (Dumbo) and two more Rodgers/Hammerstein numbers Some Enchanted Evening (South Pacific) and Climb Every Mountain (The Sound of Music).

Carousel is the second musical by the team of Richard Rodgers (music) and Oscar Hammerstein II (book and lyrics). The 1945 work was adapted from Ferenc Molnár's 1909 play Liliom, transplanting its Budapest setting to the Maine coastline. The show includes the well-known songs "If I Loved You", "June Is Bustin' Out All Over" and "You'll Never Walk Alone". Richard Rodgers later wrote that Carousel was his favorite of all his musicals.

It first appeared in the London West End in 1950.

Then we had a splendid solo soprano version of “If I Loved You” by Tavia Lewis, also from Carousel.

Now we heard Sasah Brades sing the Oliver! song “Consider Yourself”.

Oliver! is a British musical, with music and lyrics by Lionel Bart. The musical is based upon the novel Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens.

It premiered in the West End in 1960, enjoying a long run, and successful long runs on Broadway,

Dorothy Carrington

tours and revivals, after being brought to the US by producer David Merrick in 1963. It was made into a musical film in 1968. Major London revivals played from 1977–80, 1994–98 and again from 2008–11.

Next up with Olivia Rawle with The Lion King song “Can You Feel the Love Tonight” by Elton John.

The Lion King is a musical based on the 1994 Disney animated film of the same name with music by Elton John and lyrics by Tim Rice along with the musical score created by Hans Zimmer with choral arrangements by Lebo M. Directed by Julie Taymor, the musical features actors in animal costumes as well as giant, hollow puppets. The show is produced by Disney Theatrical.

The show debuted in the West End's Lyceum Theatre on October 19, 1999 and is still running. The cast of the West End production were invited to perform at the Royal Variety Performance 2008 at the London Palladium on December 11, in the presence of senior members of the British Royal Family.

Then the show moved into Andrew Lloyd-Webber/Tim Rice (and others) teritory with Harry Homer singing “Any Dream Will Do” and later Jacob & Sons, both (Joseph and his Technicolour Dreamcoat). Elizabeth Moulson gave us a fine rendition of “Wishing You Were Showhow Here Again” (Phantom of the Opera).

The Cotswolds Concerteers

Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat is a musical or operetta with lyrics by Tim Rice and music by Andrew Lloyd Webber. The story is based on the "coat of many colors" story of Joseph from the Bible's Book of Genesis. It was first performed in an alternative form in 1972, and evolving over the next 3-4 years to the current version.

Then we moved in a USA mindset with Dorothy Carrington singing “As If We Never Said Goodbye” from Sunset Boulevard (Lloyd Webber/Black/Hampton) and “Someone Is Sending Me Flowers”  from Showstring Review (Harnick/Baker).

Then to finish off the first half we had Robin Hammond sing “I talk to Trees” from Paint Your Waggon (Lerner/Loewe) and “Our Love is Here to Stay” from Goldwyn Follies (George and Ira Gershwin. Next we had another Rodgers & Hammerstein favourite “Honeybun” from South Pacific

Finally Jennie Hopkins and Katy Traynar gave us “What Is This Feeling” from Wicked by Stephen Schwartz. Later we were to also here Olivia Rawle sing “Popular”, and Freya Liddell sing “I’m Not That Girl” from the same show.

Wicked: The Untold Story of the Witches of Oz is a musical with music and lyrics by Stephen Schwartz and book by Winnie Holzman. It is based on the 1995 Gregory Maguire novel Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West, an alternative telling of the witches from the 1939 film The Wizard of Oz and L. Frank Baum's classic 1900 story The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. The musical is told from the perspective of the witches of the Land of Oz; its plot begins before and continues after Dorothy's arrival in Oz from Kansas and includes several references to the 1939 film and Baum's novel.

After the interval we had Tavia Lewis back on to sing the Guys and Dolls song “If I were a Bell” by Frank Loesser.

Then John Wheeler gave us a song from another George and Ira Gershin Show, Funny Face with “S’Wonderfull”.

Then Jennie Hopkins was back on this time with “Somewhere That’s Green” from Little Shop of Horrors (Menkin/Ashman).

Little Shop of Horrors is a comedy horror rock musical, by composer Alan Menken and writer Howard Ashman, about a hapless florist shop worker who raises a plant that feeds on human blood and flesh. The musical is based on the low-budget 1960 black comedy film The Little Shop of Horrors, directed by Roger Corman. The music, composed by Menken in the style of early 1960s rock and roll, doo-wop and early Motown, includes several well-known tunes, including the title song, "Skid Row (Downtown)", "Somewhere That's Green", and "Suddenly, Seymour".

Back next was Robin Hammond with a couple of songs, first with the My Fair Lady song “On the Seat where You Live” and then the first of songs from Les Miserables “Empty Chairs at Empty Tables”. This was dedicated to late former Mayoress of Stratford Angela Holbeck, with who Robin sang this as a duet with the Mayoress in full regalia.

Then two more Les Miserables songs, first Jennie Hopking with “Bring Him Home” and then the Cotswold Concertiers with “Do You Hear the People Sing?”.

Les Misérables, colloquially known as Les Mis or Les Miz is a sung-through musical based on the novel Les Misérables by French poet and novelist Victor Hugo. It has music by Claude-Michel Schönberg, original French lyrics by Alain Boublil and Jean-Marc Natel, with an English-language libretto by Herbert Kretzmer.

Cameron Mackintosh, in conjunction with the Royal Shakespeare Company, assembled a production team to adapt the French musical for a British audience. After two years in development, the English-language version opened in London on 8 October 1985, by the Royal Shakespeare Company at the Barbican Centre, then the London home of the RSC. The success of the West End musical led to a Broadway production.

To finish the evening the whole cast of singers and the audience sang “You’ll Never Walk Alone”.

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Excellent Performances by local school children at Shipston Proms

Shipston Junior Band

The 17^th Shipston Proms is including a wide range of musical styles, from performers of all ages. This week it was the turn of the school children of Shipston on Stour Primary School, Brailes CofE Primary School and Acorns Primary School along with a performance by the young members in the Shipston Town Band.

First on stage, in the Shipston on Stour Methodist Church, was the Shipston Junior Band, conducted by Tim Wilson and Charles Matthews. There were also a few adults on the bigger instruments to assist.

This concert is the only public performance by the members of the Shipston Junior band and is eagerly anticipated by parents and friends.

The first half (conducted by Tim Wilson) included a selection from “Playing in the Band”, with Rock Steady, Samba Party and The Hip Hop Train played by the band.

Next up was a selection from “The Little Shiny Brass World” with a Caribbean number Yellow Bird and Spanish number La Cucaracha.

Then a very old number “Pastime with Good Company” by King Henry VIII, followed by a tradition Greek song Misirlou.

All above songs were arranged by Matt Kingston.

The first half also included two cornet solo’s by junior band members to much appreciation from the watching audience.

After refreshments in the interval the second half was conducted by Charles Matthews and included some more modern tunes including The Big Issue (Ian McKenzie), Southdown (R.V. Steadman-Allen), Juniors on Parade (Colin Moore) and Mack the Knife (Kurt Weill).

The second half included a further two cornet solos from two more junior band members.

The following day saw the Primary Schools’ Concert take place in Shipston on Stour Primary School,

Shipston Primary School

with pupils from Shipston Primary, Acorns Primary School (Long Compton) and Brailes CofE Primary.

The Shipston Primary School pupils were up first with a keyboard piece for two pupils “Tango Jumbo”. Then we had a piano solo with “Pussycat” and “Old MacDonald” and a flutes duet piece “EBGBs”.

Then it was the turn of the massed recorders, conducted by teacher Emma-Jane Roberts, with a rendition of “Land of the Silver Birch”.

Then the last three piece from Shipston Primary included a keyboard piece “Land of the Silver Birch”, two flutes with “Movie Buster”, a piano solo with “Prelude” and finishing up with a multi player keyboard piece “Ode to Joy”.

Now it was the turn of the Acorns Primary children with a violin solo with “Drunken Sailor”, a keyboard piece “Woodpecker”, followed by another violin solo with the well known “Theme from William Tell”.

Followed by this was a keyboard solo with “Merrily we Roll along”, 3 recorder players with “Stop and Hop”, “Chummy Charleston” and “Proud Moment”, a piano solo with “Rocking Horse” and finishing up with a keyboard piece “Instrument Round”

Then to conclude the concert we had the children from Brailes CofE Primary school who started off with recorder pieces “Catch Me if you Can” and ‘Skye Boat Song” followed by a recorder piece “Allegretto”.

Then it was the turn of two clarinets with “All Made Up”, multiple flutes with “Spring” and finishing up with a flute and clarinet piece “Something to Say”

At the finish there was prolonger applause from the large audience and then Shipston Proms organiser Tim Porter thanked the performers for their playing and encouraged the audience to attend a range of further musical events up to Saturday 4^th July.

Great Open Mic & Folk Sessions at Black Horse as part of Shipston Proms

Barney Porter, Valerie Vet & Mark Jervis

As part of the 17^th Shipston Proms the historic Black Horse pub hosted sessions in its garden, including an Open Mic session and Stratford Folk Club comes to Shipston.

The pub is a stone-built village pub, the only thatched building and the oldest pub in the town of Shipston-on-Stour. The pub licence dates back to 1540, and the lounge is cosy and welcoming with a large inglenook real fireplace.

The Open Mic session was run by Barney Porter and a range of local talent turned up to play from the small garden stage to large appreciative audiences, who were enjoying the real of real ales, wines and other drinks from enigmatic proprietor Baggy Saunders.

This included a trio of Barney Porter (guitar), Valerie Vett (vocals) and Mark Jervis (beat box) sang several songs including the Stevie Wonder classic Superstition, with strong female vocals from Valerie.

Next up was singer and guitarist with his powerful voice with renditions of Blue Suede Shoes (Elvis Presley), Strange Brew (Cream) and Poison (Alice Cooper).

The Shambolics

Then up on stage ambled a more mature trio called the Shambolics, featuring Alan Thompson (Guitar), Mark Dudfield (guitar) and Colin Beckett (washboard & harmonica) with renditions of Sea of Heartbreak (Johnny Cash), Gypsy Woman (Don Williams) and Teenager in Love (Dion and the Belmonts).

Next our pub proprietor Baggy Saunders told up a few humorous short poems, one of which he had submitted to Beano magazine and had won 10 shillings as a winner.

Then two of Third Dimension took to the stage, George Scholes (guitar) and Laura Furnell (vocals) with the help of Mark Jervis on beatbox. The full group (with Jez Walker) are playing again on Saturday night as part of the Proms. Their set included She’s Not There (Santana), Smooth Operator (Sade) and China Girl (David Bowie).

Charley Mack

Then we moved to a more jazz/folk style with two of 16 Strings and a Dead Goat with Eleanor Stanley (violin) and James Thomas (guitar) with there versions of That Man, Galway Girl (Steve Earle), Over The Waterfall (Henry Reed) and Sweet Child Of Mine (Guns ‘N Roses), so a bit more rock in there too!

Next we had on stage singer/guitarist Becky with her rendition of I’m not Perfect (Missy Elliott) and finished off the evening with had Barney Porter (guitar), his Dad and Shipston Proms organiser Tim Porter (harmonica) and Mark Jervis called into action again on beatbox. They gave us renditions of Take a load (The Band), the Theme from the BBC2 show Old Grey Whistletest and a version of The Eagles Desparado with Tim’s harmonica rather than vocals. This was the second time this evening that Tim had performed that as he had played this with The Vale Musicians at their Proms gig at Cherington.

The next night it was the turn of Stratford Folk Club comes to Shipston, run by Tori Rushton, as part of the Shipston Proms, again hosted at the Black Horse’s garden stage area.

This included a selection of Irish (and similar) songs played and sung by Roger Reed, Battered Soul lead singer/guitarist Ben Bryan with a rendition of Travis’s Why does it always Rain, which at 1994 was a part back as he wanted to go songwise, which got a large laugh from the slightly more mature audience than 16 year old Ben!

Roger Reed

Next up was Battered Soul’s singer Charley Mack playing her guitar with her versions of Atlas Hands (Benjamin Francis Leftwich) and Mine (Beyonce) before she introduced and debuted her own song Kisses in the Rain.

Next up was a much more mature singer Bill Pulham, with a selection of old favorites and historic songs some just with vocals and the final song with harmonica. This included Bling George, Whose Horse is That? And Earnie Ford’s 1956 song Muscle and Blood.

Back up again was Roger Reed, this time with guitar, with a version of Lindisfarne’s Fog on the Tyne.

Jon Bird & Tori Rushton

Next up we had the guitarist from Daisy Chain Quartet Jon Bird and singer Bill Pulham with a duet. Finally host Tori Rushton with her cello (and also a Daisy Chain Quartet member) and fellow band member John Bird (guitar) gave us there version of Kissing on a Knife edge.

At the end after great audience appreciation, the Shipston Proms and its future events were plugged with events up to and including the big finale on Saturday 4^th July in Shipston’s main square.