Note: availability information of the sponsorship property or properties included both here and in other pages may not still be accurate at the time of reading and should be checked with the organisation concerned.
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Note: availability information of the sponsorship property or properties included both here and in other pages may not still be accurate at the time of reading and should be checked with the organisation concerned. |
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Below Stairs, premièred in May 2002 in Chesham, boasts rave reviews and is now about to see its fourth production, this time by Riverside Players in Staines, Middlesex, on 21st-24th July, 2004.
That production and all future stagings will generate money for Cancer Research UK Ltd., as the composer has good cause to thank such a charity, having survived cancers of the colon, liver and lung. The aim now is to mount a production at a large theatre, such as the 1,000-seater Swan in High Wycombe, with the realistic expectation that £25,000 upfront sponsorship will generate at least double that for Cancer Research UK. The resulting high profile exposure will then stimulate the UK amdram circuit to put the show on, thus generating a stream of cash in the future for the charity. “Below Stairs” is a tuneful, feel-good musical set in 1914 at the outbreak of WW1, its star being housemaid Lucy.
The website www.BelowStairsShow.com gives full details of the show’s history, its plot, the rave reviews, the cast demands, and so on. Scores and libs are available for assessment hire. There is a warts-and-all video of the première but the show has changed a lot since 2002 and the intention now is to produce a top-quality video of the July Staines production, along with a cast sound recording on CD. Among the show’s fans are BBC newsreader Patrick Lunt – who augmented the chorus sound in the first production – and actor/writer Simon Williams (Major Bellamy in TV’s Upstairs, Downstairs), who describes the show as ‘fabulous’.
Sponsors of the proposed large-scale charity production will double their investment for cancer research, delight audiences with a feel-good show with memorable tunes and create a stimulus for other amateur operatic societies to stage the work to benefit charity.