When Anthony Britt took his young daughter Eleanor to join Aldridge Musical Comedy Society seven years ago, he stood and watched as the members went about their business.
“I was someone who didn’t have a huge amount of confidence at the time,” he remembers, “but I found it really interesting. I didn’t know it would change my life.”
Now, Anthony is about to appear in the society’s new panto, Cinderella, at the Prince of Wales theatre this autumn – having written and directed the show.
“That’s what musical theatre can do to you,” he said, “for me it gave me so much confidence and a way to express myself through my writing too. I’m the kind of person who isn’t very comfortable in large groups, and I thought I would never have the confidence to go on stage.
My nephews and nieces had done it for years, along with my daughter. Anyway, as I was taking her along to rehearsals each week I ended up making the teas, then helping back stage during the show week, and in the end I just thought I’d give it a go.
It was life-changing. There’s something about musical theatre which gives you such confidence – it’s a place to get rid of all your troubles.
You can be someone who struggles with confidence, but then come show week, it turns you into a lunatic! You leave yourself in the dressing room and you become that character. On stage you can feel superhuman. I would recommend it for anybody.”
Sleeping Beauty panto – Christmas 2018
The Show Must Go On
Aldridge Musical Comedy Society, like all entertainment organisers, has been hard-hit by the pandemic, having to cancel a planned production of Sister Act because of lockdown.
But the society has been planning a comeback and working throughout the lockdown, rehearsing within the allowed restrictions.
“It became clear we weren’t going to be able to get Sister Act together in time,” Anthony said, “but we still have the license for it and will be staging it in May next year. So, then we thought ‘if society opens up in the summer, what are we going to do in October?’
We thought about a concert – maybe songs from the shows. I had written Cinderella and suggested that we could start putting that together.
It was a risk, because we didn’t know when society was going to reopen, or if we would have time to rehearse, but I said let’s just do it, and if things don’t go to plan we can reassess. So, we went for it. ”
Work on the production began in April, when restrictions eased to allow small groups of young children to rehearse, with May seeing some scene setting and choreography arranged. During the recent heatwave, Aldridge residents may have seen them rehearsing outdoors, at Anchor Meadow or on a car park across the road.
“It hasn’t been easy rehearsing, when full removal of restrictions was yet to happen,” Anthony said. “So socially distanced groups of six it has been, then taking to the outdoors to learn the dances. Well, the show must go on!”
The result is a new version of the timeless classic Cinderella, which promises all the traditional family fun of a panto with a few 21st century twists.
Principle cast and production team for Cinderella
About Cinderella
In the show, Cinderella lives at Hardup Hall with her sister Bonnie, and three attractive, but not nice stepsisters named, Chardonnay, Spumante and Prosecco. Also at the hall are the cook and part-time witch, Madame Lidl, plus Buttons, who tries to hold everything together.
Prince Charming, along with his assistant Dandini, searches for the girl he danced with at the Ball, but who vanished leaving nothing but a shoe. To complicate matters, the land is in the grip of a crime wave. Not only are the villains Deichmann and Brantano about, but also the notorious Ninja Cat, who keeps beating them to the spoils.
Anthony plays villain Deichmann, with his son Matthew playing sidekick Brantano. Anthony’s girlfriend, Michelle, is in on the act too – playing Prosecco.
“When I was writing Cinderella, I though it was important to make sure it wasn’t just the usual fairy tale story that everyone expects, so I have updated some elements of the story everyone knows. I wanted to make sure we give audiences something they haven’t seen before.
“So, while it still has Buttons and the family lives at Hardup Hall, in my version there are no ‘ugly sisters’ – which isn’t really acceptable these days. Instead, Cinderella’s sisters are beautiful, but their characters are ugly.”
Aldridge Musical Comedy Soceity’s members are drawn from across Aldridge, Walsall and the wider area, and the cast is complemented by youngsters from the community, including pupils from the Keeling School of Dance and Dancextreme.
Usually, the group puts on two shows per year, sometimes staging them at local schools, but members use the impressive facilities at the Prince of Wales theatre, in Cannock, for their bigger productions.
“It’s very exciting to be finally building up to a live performance,” Antony said. “It has been such a horrible 18 months for everyone that hopefully a lot of people will be keen to get back to the live theatre.
“By October, it will have been two years since we performed in front of an audience, so we wanted the first thing we did to be the perfect way of welcoming them back – and what better way could there be than with a panto?”
Cinderella runs from 21-23 October at The Prince of Wales theatre. Tickets are available via the box office.