Spring Awakening - Cast
We are excited to announce our cast list for Spring Awakening!
Wendla - Veronique Piercy
Martha - Ellie Jones
Thea - Rosie Miles
Anna - Carly Bond
Ilse - Jamie Miller-Hughes
Melchior - Matthew Wright
Moritz - Glen Jordan
Hanschen - Lewis McKenzie
Ernst - Nigel Fullerton
Georg - Barry Lattimore-Quinn
Otto - Nick Dore
Adult Woman - Laura Harrison
Adult Man - Josh Yard
Well done to all who auditioned - we were blown away by the standard!
We can’t wait to get started!
Kiss Me Kate Review
The review of our recent production of Kiss Me Kate has arrived, and our NODA representative Des Wilby was suitably impressed with his evening!
You can read the full review here, but here are some highlights:
"Phoebe Fleetham must first and foremost be congratulated for her role as Director and ensuring this production was slick, highly polished and a resounding success"
"Choreography was arranged by Vicki Rice and was simply fabulous ... , what appeared almost effortless was definitely the result of extensive rehearsal, dedication and commitment"
"Virtually on stage throughout the entire production, I was hugely impressed with the characterisation of each principal, their consistent accents and vocal ranges. They were nothing short of superb"
"Kiss Me, Kate’ is a demanding show for any society to perform. All in all, this was a sparkling and energetic production, imaginatively directed with a most talented and enthusiastic cast"
Congratulations to all involved!
Spring Awakening Creative Team Announced!
We are thrilled to announce Cygnets’ first ever all-female creative team, who will be working together on our new July-slot musical, Spring Awakening!
Taking the helm is long-time Cygnet member Aimee Parnell, in her directorial debut. As well as being in many Cygnet musicals and plays, Aimee was assistant director for both Top Hat and Merrily We Roll Along this year, and we are very much looking forward to seeing what she will do with this show.
Musical direction will be in the sound charge of Harriet Oughton. Harriet has previously played in the pit for Cygnet shows (such as Top Hat) and is an extremely skilful MD - anyone who saw PLOS’ recent production of West Side Story will attest to that!
Rounding off the team is choreographer Kim Schenkelaars. Having previously choreographed Dirty Rotten Scoundrels for Cygnets (to great success), Kim is currently choreographing the PLOS panto whilst also dancing in Kiss Me, Kate and being on the Cygnet committee - we’re sure Spring Awakening will be just the restful break she needs!
Spring Awakening will be performed at the Stockwell Playhouse from 10th to 13th of July 2019. Audition information will be available soon!
Merrily We Roll Along - Review
Cygnet Players recently had the pleasure of performing the Sondheim masterpiece, Merrily We Roll Along, at the Putney Arts Theatre.
Our regional NODA representative, Des Wilby, attended on 8 September - and judging from his comments, he thoroughly enjoyed himself! Here are a few excerpts:
"Zoe Dobell brought her directing experience to this production and is to be congratulated for a hugely successful show. This was a classy performance delivered to a high standard by a quality cast. The attention to detail throughout ensured everything ran like clockwork."
"The three leads were quite simply exemplary, and carried the show with great confidence. Andrew Overin, as Franklin Shepard, is both a great singer and a consummate actor. Andrew was more than ably matched by Adam Walker-Galbraith as Charley Kringas and Olga-Marie Pratt as Mary Flynn. Most of the songs are narrative and required considerable acting skills as well as emotional delivery to get them across. It was soon apparent that in the hands of these three it was never going to be a problem. Together they owned the stage and held the audience’s attention perfectly."
"This show proved to be yet another excellent production. I am quite certain that the entire audience, like me, left feeling hugely impressed with the quality of this cast and Cygnet Players in general."
The full review can be read here.
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We want to let you know that, as Cygnets members and supporters, we take your privacy extremely seriously – so we’ve made some updates to our Privacy Policy. It tells you how we use your data, how we store it and how we keep it safe.
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Keeping our potential audiences informed about our upcoming productions is a crucial ingredient in the success of a show.Calendar of Events
- December
Saturday 5 December
Cygnets Entertains - online!
That's right, this year you are entertaining each other over the medium of Zoom!
Show Reviews
- All Shook Up
- Spring Awakening
- Kiss Me Kate
"Jamie Miller-Hughes brought both her acting experience, and first-hand knowledge of All Shook Up, to the roles of Director/Producer. Attention to detail was obviously stressed as the end product was both precise and polished. The entire show ran smoothly and the full house witnessed a superb show."
"Kim Schenkelaars (Choreographer) and Aoife Considine (Assistant Choreographer) combined to ensure a huge amount of pace and energy in all dance routines."
"Barry Lattimore-Quinn took on the hugely demanding role of Chad. Barry’s dancing skills and athletic movement were perfect for this high-energy role and character. Overall, Barry delivered an excellent performance."
"Jessica Laing gave a superb performance as Natalie/Ed. Jessica has a fabulous singing voice, which was repeatedly demonstrated throughout the show, together with maturity, apparent ease and great humour. A fabulous all-round performance."
"Alex Blackie demonstrated his fine character acting as ‘nerdish’ Dennis. Alex’s general awkwardness, diction and facial expressions were great and his singing skills came to the fore in the wonderful solo 'It Hurts Me'."
Des Wilby
NODA Review
"Threatening to steal the show with her vocals was Harriet Ruby as Sylvia. Ruby had a brilliantly strong belt who knew how to use it and also knew when the song needed a more tender treatment."
"In all of the big ensemble numbers the harmonies were spot on and sounded really full. I can tell that M.D Michael Searle would have worked really hard with the cast to get that sound."
Sarah McPartlan
Musical Theatre Musings Review
"Aimee Parnell is to be congratulated as Director for this wonderful piece of theatre. Attention to detail was precise, the movement of props during the musical numbers was effortless and the overall pace was terrific."
"Kim Schenkelaars deserves huge credit as Choreographer and for including so much energy and variety into the dance routines.... the choreography was fabulous and really added to the show’s appeal."
"Glen Jordan portrayed Moritz ... with just the right amount of teenage angst Glen’s emotional acting of his songs showed a total understanding of what he was portraying."
"Josh Yard and Laura Harrison both did exceptionally well in playing every adult part and for delivering some chilling moments together with humour and even sensitivity. Their scenes as grieving parents were extremely well handled and all their various characters carefully reflected general attitudes of the time period."
Des Wilby
NODA Review
"I was impressed at the strength of the cast across the board. Matthew Wright played Melchior opposite Veronique Piercy’s Wendla. Wright’s self assurance contrasted nicely against Piercy’s youthful innocence. Piercy opened the show with ‘Mama Who Bore Me,’ and her assured clear tone set the bar high for the rest of the night."
"The music was also beautifully delivered with Harriet Oughton at the helm. They mastered the score from the rocky aggressive numbers which really packed a punch to the beautifully balanced and harmony rich numbers"
"It is shows like that that help blur the line between amateur and professional theatre."
Sarah McPartlan
Musical Theatre Musings Review
"Phoebe Fleetham must first and foremost be congratulated for her role as Director and ensuring this production was slick, highly polished and a resounding success."
"Keith Walters, Rosie Orchard, Joanne Frazer and Paul Nicholas Dyke provided the principal ‘line up’ for this show and it was impossible to fault their performances in anyway. Virtually on stage throughout the entire production, I was hugely impressed with the characterisation of each principal, their consistent accents and vocal ranges. They were nothing short of superb."
"Will Prescott (1st Man) and Russell Hughes (2nd Man) provided additional light relief and certainly worked well together. Carefully maintaining their accents and characters throughout, their standout moment came in their duet ‘Brush Up You Shakespeare’."
Des Wilby
NODA Review
"The highlight of the show for me had to be the opening of Act 2 with ‘Too Darn Hot.’ Vicki Rice, the choreographer had devised a number that all of the cast could execute with real flair and a huge amount of energy and had clearly drilled them repeatedly. This resulted in a real feast for the eyes and ears."
"I must congratulate Cygnet Players on a high standard of production; with a sizzling production number, leads that oozed their characters and a wonderful orchestra this is a great show to see if you love the golden age musicals."
Sarah McPartlan
Musical Theatre Musings
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Cygnet Players is an amateur theatre company based in south west London.