Teamwork Light at the End of the Tunnel – best of Broadway
T here was glitz and glamour, and there were drag queens, and an American founding father. There was action and a train load of energy – and then, there was the music. Light at the End of the Tunnel – College’s senior musical co- production with Rangi Ruru Girls’ School – was loud and passionate, featuring 20 of the best-known songs from the most successful global musicals. From the 1970s came Grease , The Rocky Horror Show and Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street . From the 1980s were Les Misérables , Chess , Sunday in the Park with George – and every subsequent decade to the current one got its moment in the spotlight. Bringing it all to life were 60 College and Rangi Ruru students
on the stage, plus the musicians, sound and light technicians, wardrobe, and makeup experts who – working under Directors Hannah Clarkson and Peter Rutherford – transformed the words and music into an energetic and fast-paced show. Through a chilly winter three-night season, it did not take long to warm up the audience when the College ensemble launched into I Will Survive from Priscilla, Queen of the Desert . The costumes were spectacular, and the boys maximised their moment. Greased Lightning from Grease was another winner while the grand finale, Time Warp , from The Rocky Horror Show , had the Assembly Hall rocking. The cast handled the rollerblades of the Starlight Express numbers with the same ease that they
managed the flippers in the Mamma Mia! offerings. Solo and duet performances were powerful too, with Oscar Gosling and Elle Partridge riveting in The Song That Goes Like This from Spamalot ; Pippa Anderson a triumph in The Worst Pies in London from Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street ; Adam Raitt in his wonderful performance of Santa Fe from Newsies ; Ollie Jones in Waving Through a Window from Dear Evan Hansen – to name but a few. The audience loved the songs from Hamilton and Mamma Mia! Light at the End of the Tunnel was the perfect antidote to another year of Covid-19, influenza, and disruption. Everyone who brought it to life could claim it was a runaway success.
COLLEGE 2022
79
Made with FlippingBook - Online catalogs