The Scouts and Guides got together once again to deliver their annual Gang Show at the Norwood Concert Hall. It was great to see these young people come together after a hiatus of a few years due to covid.
The opening was a little slow as the act of testing the sound system went a little long. However the opening was saved by the very pleasant solo voice of Kat and her puppet.
The show was divided into seasons with a different director for each of the four. Summer season was the first act and was highlighted with a solo by Ben singing ‘I Hate Everything But You’. The props for Road Trip Ready with the car and caravan plus oversize blow up toys assisted in delivering the required message. The ant costumes for Bug Time were well received by the audience and the characters played their parts well. The final part of the summer season allowed us to hear the natural tone of the soloist Nicholas.
The Autumn segment started with Changing Clothes. The remarkable quick change of costume while dancing by Rachel had the audience wondering how did she do that? The other parts of Autumn consisted of a series of songs some of which gave the chorus a stage for some pleasant voices.
Winter was then upon us and the Camping section was the first time scouts were recognised in uniform. The prominent part of the winter season was the Hail Tap which was cleverly choreographed with the performers imitating rain and hail with foot and hand movements providing the appropriate sounds. The Snowball Fight of ’61 seemed to be enjoyed by all on stage participating.
The final season, Spring started with How To Bee with the costumes and in particular the costume of the Queen bee bringing smiles and laughter from the audience. The long pause between the Hayfever and Magpies segments lost impact with the cast looking at each other wondering what to do.
The Musical Director, Jaxon Joy, along with his other members of the orchestra gave life to many of the songs. Unfortunately there was some lost co-ordination with those on stage who seemed to be waiting for cues. This may have been overcome with more rehearsals.
It was unfortunate with the loss of power during the show which caused the audience to be ushered out and tended to drag the show out to three hours.
