Kevin was producer with the Blaenau Gwent Young Stars from the very first production of the pantomime 'Dick Whittington'. But he has had a great love for musical theatre since he joined Brynmawr Amatuer Operatic Society in 1976, when he was still a teenager.
Kevin has performed in such shows as 'South Pacific', 'Billy', 'Fiddler on the Roof', he played the part of the Artful Dodger in 'Oliver', a part which his son, Dorian recently performed in Tredegar Operatic Societies production of the show. Not obly that but his other son Oliver played the artful dodger in the Blaenau Gwent Young Stars production of 'Dodger - The Artful One'. (Like father, like sons).
Kevin also produced Brynmawr Operatic Society for the productions of 'State Fair' and 'Charlie Girl'.
Kevin also has a great nack at writing lyrics, along with Craig James, the Musical Director he has written a number of songs, including two versions of 'Behind the Scenes', including the special version written for, and performed on the BBC's DIY SOS programme.
As well as his love for musical theatre Kevin has a very demanding working life, He has recently returned from giving a talk in New Zealand for care in the community. Kevin was a treasured member of the production team for many years, and we wish him every success in the coming years, and we hope to work with him again in the near future.
Godspell Auditions
The cast of 'Godspell' has been chosen following some amazing auditions on Sunday 30th June & subsequent auditions on Wednesday 9th October. Everyone who attended the auditions were very talented indeed, but unfortunately there were not enough parts to suit everyone, the succesful candidates were:
Jesus - David Cordingly
John The Baptist/Judas - Lewis Hodson
Josh Lewis
Emma Carter
Leah Thomas
Rachel Taylor
Katy Treharne
Lisa Winstone
Heather Lacey
Kayleigh Morgan
Kayleigh Williams
Sandra Creswell
The opening night, after months of rehearsals to get everything right, what could possibly go wrong. Well this is showbusiness!
After getting just a few bars into the first number everything seemed to be going brilliantly the chorus sounded fabulous, then i was tapped on the shoulder and told to evacuate, of course I was playing the organ so loud I hadn't heard it, and when the girls ran down the aisle to evacuate the capacity audience, they just looked at them and laughed, as they thought it was part of the show, despite the fire alarms blaring.
It took twenty minutes before we could get back in the building, we started over again and gave a knockout performance. Thankfully it was only a false alarm after some local children broke in downstairs and set off the fire alarm, they were obviously not thinking of public health as we had a number of children crying, and people in wheelchairs to evacuate.
But at least everything went off great in the end and the audience left with smiles on their faces, full of compliments.
Congratulations to the theatre staff and the cast for their professionalism during the incident, I just pray it doesn't happen again tomorrow, my heart can't take it.
Anyway, congratulations go to the cast and Production team for another resounding success.
craig.
An Alarming Success
Grant Came Through
This week we had great news, the fundraising committee had recently applied for a grant for mirrors on the one wall, black out curtains and also some staging that packs away for the rehearsal room. We have recieved a letter to say that it has been accepted.
This will be another great step in making our rehearsal rooms somewhere to be proud of, after recieving grant money for our new floor and windows in 2002.
We have also applied for another grant with Silent Valley to sand blast the outside of the building and lower the ceilings in the two rehearsal rooms. Lets cross our fingers.
10th Anniversary Production - Success
its hard for sme of us to believe but it has been ten years since our first ever production. 10 years on and our production was 'Annie Warbucks', the show was a complete success with audiences saying it was one of the most professional shows they have ever seen. It was also our most successful in as much as we sold out tickets 3 out of the four nights, a first for the society.
To everyone involved many congratulations.
DIY SOS Return
Back in Summer 2000 the BBC programme DIYSOS came along to Ebbw Vale to help us with our headquaters. Previous to this we were thinking that we would have to abandon the idea of using the building as it was in such a bad way. Thanks to the DIY SOS team all that changed after a huge clean-up operation and make-over.
On wednesday 6th October 2004 the team returned to the building to do a show on how we were getting on with the building. It was fantastic to see all the team again, including Nick Knowles, Bob (the Builder), Bill (The electrician) and more.
The BGYS presented the BBC with a specialy made plate to thank them for all they did for the society and a great time was had by all. Still no news of when the show will be aired, watch this space!!!!
10th Anniversary Celebrations
The society began back in the summer of 1994 with a handful of parents who wanted a group that concentrated soley on putting youngsters on the stage.
On saturday 25th September we held our 10th Anniversary Celebrations at the Beaufort Ballroom, Ebbw Vale. With live music from a Ceilidh Band. On that evening there were a number of presentations to members for service, including Lucy Phillips, Gabrielle Amos and Carley Jones. There were also special 10 year awards given to Carol Webb, Gareth Webb, Dean Webb, Lynette Watkins and Helen Millard, who have all been with the society since day one. Congratulations to you all.
Further fun was had at our 10th Anniversary production of 'Annie Warbucks', in the after show party awards were given for long service to a number of members and also awards for 10 years service went to Julie Davies and Craig James, again congratulations!!!
NODA National Weekend
The society had the honour on Thursday 23rd September of performing extracts from 'The Best of Times' at the NODA National conference.
The group performed fantastically well, and everyone enjoyed the entertainment we put on. A huge thanks to our representative, Dee McIlroy who supports the society continuously. And also to Craig and the members who did us proud.
