Images courtesy of Richard Batson / SLT
A feel-good show of stage song and dance favourites is set to be performed by a troupe of talented young performers at Sheringham Little Theatre.
A Celebration of Musical Theatre, running from April 14-16 at 7.30pm nightly, will see a cast aged eight to 16 showcase their stage skills.
They are excited and eager to step back into the limelight for the first time in two years, after the traditional Easter musical Guys and Dolls was postponed and then cancelled due to the Covid pandemic.
But the youngsters are aiming to come back with a bang with an hour-long show that will include hits from classic shows, including Guys and Dolls, as well as an introduction to some newer productions.
Assistant director Katie Thompson said: “The cast are a mixture of experienced youngsters from previous shows and some making their stage debuts.
“There will be group numbers, duets, solos – and our aim is for the young people to have fun. They are full of energy, enthusiasm and very excited to be back on stage performing.”
Songs and dances from Hairspray, Shrek, The Sound of Music and Oliver will feature, along with more recent shows such as Dear Evan Hansen and Rent.
There will be guest performances too from some Little Theatre favourites including youngsters Lucy Connor and Charlotte Caldwell along with panto creator Nick Earnshaw who is making a welcome return to direct the show.
The show signals the re-emergence of the theatre’s Easter youth productions, and comes in a year which will also see the re-appearance of youngsters in the professional panto.
Youngsters wanting to join the team can find out more upcoming productions and regular Monday night stage sessions on the website www.sheringhamlittletheatre.com or by following updates on the theatre’s Facebook page.
Tickets for A Celebration of Musical Theatre costing £8 are available at https://sheringhamlittletheatre.ticketsolve.com/shows/1173624436
A community wardrobe is selling off some of its spare clothes to help raise funds for Sheringham Little Theatre.
Rails of items will be on sale at the theatre on Sunday July 17 from 11am to 3pm at a free-to-enter event.
Sadly a fashion show planned for the Friday night, July 15, has been cancelled due to unforeseen circumstances.
But the sale is still going ahead on the Sunday featuring vintage, retro and modern items including evening and day dresses, coats and men’s suits, along with some uniform pieces, fancy dress, fabrics and haberdashery, and accessories such as gloves, hats and wigs.
The wonders of the sea will be celebrated in a brand new marine film festival heading to North Norfolk in July.
A one-day series of films on July 8 is the brainchild of sea-loving local photographer and film-maker Chris Taylor from Sheringham.
The festival at Sheringham Little Theatre features a Bafta-nominated 2021 movie Becoming Cousteau, which tells the story of famous explorer and environmentalist Jacques Cousteau's life.
Screenings also include locally-made short films including Beachcombing by Hunstanton-based filmmaker Pete Naylor which features a poem read by acclaimed Silent Witness actress Emilia Fox. And there is work by Chris himself, including films about the north Norfolk sailing barge Juno, the life of a modern day fisherman Henry Randell, and some stunning footage of the rich wildlife on the chalk reef just a stone's throw from the Sheringham shoreline.
A summer drama set in a 1970s nightclub will break new ground by teaming up young performers from two theatres 180 miles apart.
Stags and Hens will open Sheringham Little Theatre’s summer season in August, bringing together soon-to-be married Dave and Linda, and their friends, when their pre-wedding party nights turn out to be at the same venue.
The action, set in the night club toilets, will see a 12-strong cast provided by young actors from the Little Theatre and the West Midlands county town of Stafford, where play director Nick Earnshaw also runs youth drama groups at Gatehouse Youth Theatre and Rooftop Studios.
In a trio of “firsts, it is the first time the two venues have collaborated, the first time the Stafford team has “toured”, and the first time Nick has directed a show by his favourite playwright Willy Russell.
A double decker dose of music and fun from the swinging 1960s is one of the highlights of Sheringham Little Theatre’s summer season.
A touring stage version of Sir Cliff Richard’s 1963 Summer Holiday movie will transport audiences back to a carefree road trip through Europe brimming with singalong hit songs.
It runs from August 16-20 as part of a regional tour by Theatre on the Coast. Show producer Matthew Townshend said: “Summer Holiday is approaching its 60th anniversary – it was a huge hit at the time and remains incredibly popular today. It is remembered with enormous affection. If you mention four young lads and a double decker bus, most people – even those much younger – will start singing ‘We’re all going on a summer holiday!”
They are married in reality, as well as on stage – and both blissfully wedded to a shared lifelong love of amateur dramatics.
Peter and Amanda Howell play pompous councillor Albert Parker, and his downtrodden wife Annie, in a production of the classic comedy When We Are Married by the Sheringham Little Theatre Players which opens on March 31.
Since they first met in 1989 when Peter played Henry Higgins and Amanda Eliza Doolittle in My Fair Lady, the Coltishall pair have portrayed hundreds of roles mainly for the Cromer and Sheringham Operatic and Dramatic Society and the Maddermarket in Norwich.
They were wed 30 years ago, but have only played a married couple on stage less than a handful of times. That includes as King Arthur and Guinevere in Camelot on Cromer Pier in 2005 and as a widow and her dead husband Gordon in Life and Beth at the Maddermarket in 2014.