Amateur Dramatics

IODS has departed from the usual musical review this year and added a story line which works very well. The story line was well written by director James Hayward and takes you through the life of an aspiring singer/dancer, Melody Jones, with the part being played by 4 different actors at the various stages of her life. Lucy Taylor the 1950s and 1960’s, Lesley Rawlinson the 1970’s Stephanie Brown the 1980’s and 1990’s and Brenda Caddick as the present day Melody Jones.

The show has many song and dance numbers that evoked memories from several decades for many people, from Beatlemania in the 60’s, to Radio Ga Ga and Phantom of the Opera and just about everything else in-between. They even managed to weave in the Eurovision Song Contest too!

As a 50 something year old the highlight for me was the take-off of Morecambe and Wise (Southport and Smart, get it?) this was very well received by all and reminded those in the audience old enough to remember how good telly used to be on Saturday nights! That’s a testament to how well the characters were played by Roger Jackaman and Rodney Marsh.

As you would expect from IODS the standard of singing and dancing throughout the show was very high, and the colourful costumes made up for the minimal set. All in all, a good night out!

Gotta Sing, Gotta Dance runs through till Saturday 7 October with performances at 7.30 and a matinee at 2.30 on Saturday.