Triumphant debut for newLOG!

The New London Opera Group burst onto the amateur operatic scene on Sunday, 14th March with a highly successful concert at the Riverhead Theatre in Louth, Lincolnshire.

The concert, entitled Here's a how-de-do! comprised excerpts from all the Gilbert and Sullivan operas, from Thespis to The Grand Duke and blended popular favourites with rare, and in some cases, almost unknown solos, duets and ensembles. A fine cast performed the musical numbers, together with a witty narration written by Graham Rogers that placed the numbers in context. The singers were Catrine Kirkman and Heather Johnson (Sopranos), Sue Foister (Contralto), Nick Watts (Tenor), Chris Cann (Baritone) and Graham Rogers (Bass). They were superbly accompanied by Paul Guinery at the piano. Although music stands were provided, most numbers were performed "off book", which allowed for a high degree of action and staging, particularly in the opening chorus of Thespians, in which the cast entered with hampers and proceeded to lay out rugs and bottles for a picnic. The cast wore evening dress (long gowns for the ladies, white tie and tails for the men) but characters were suggested by fragments of costume, such as a pith helmet for the Major-General, top hat, white scarf and gloves for the Prince of Monte Carlo and straw boaters for Princesses Nekaya and Kalyba.

A characteristically warm and attentive Louth audience greatly enjoyed the concert. Demand for tickets had exceeded all expectations and the house achieved over 80% capacity, bringing in a significant profit towards the cost of this summer's tour of The Mikado. Popular numbers received the expected enthusiastic applause, but the cast were especially delighted at the warm welcome given to less familiar songs. Although the whole concert was of a very high standard, some highlights stood out, especially Catrine's serenely beautiful rendition of "The sun whose rays", Heather's coloratura fireworks in "Poor wandering one", Nick's superb "Take a Pair of sparkling eyes", ending with a top C! Sue's reprise of last year's moving "O foolish fay", Graham's touching "Tit willow" and Chris leading the company in a wild rendition of the minstrel song from Utopia Limited, complete with tambourine!

The final encore was particularly well received, and on the words "If you dare to hiss or boo, we will start on something new" prompted hisses and boos from the audience, in the vain hope of more music! Everyone in the Company was greatly buoyed up by the warmth of the reception and the very positive feedback received from audience members after the performance. All in all, a great success musically and artistically, and a fine baptism of fire for the New London Opera Group.