Some good news at last.
Milborne Port Opera, Horsington’s favourite local musical theatre company, has scooped three out of the five awards for which they were nominated in the prestigious David Beach Awards for musical theatre. Some 33 companies across Somerset competed in this hotly-contested annual competition, organised by the Somerset Fellowship of Drama.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=JbeThQhE7ew
Milborne Port Opera’s nominations and wins were:
Best Sound (Musical director Caroline d’Cruz) – WON!
This is a remarkable win. MPO does not use any amplification at all. The award was for “a pure, beautifully balanced sound”.
Best Set Design (Naomi Booth and Trevor John)
Best Actor (Mark Blackham as John Wellington Wells in “The Sorcerer”)
The “Show Stopper” award for the best musical number (entire company)
WON!
Best Small Venue (Milborne Port village hall) WON!
The awards were all for MPO’s last production “The Sorcerer” by Gilbert & Sullivan, directed by Linda Mumford, which played to packed houses in April last year.
MPO has form in this area. They have now won the “Show Stopper” award twice and the Best Set award once.
Rehearsals are now in full swing for the 2017 production “Into the Woods” by Stephen Sondheim and James Lapine, which intertwines traditional fairy stories into a spellbinding musical with a few twists and surprises thrown in. “Be careful what you wish for”, as they say.
The show will be a stunner. It plays in the Milborne Port Village hall from April 19-22. Book now – www.thelittleboxoffice.com/mpo or via the MPO’s Facebook page.