Bingo Bells and Panto Cows make for an interesting evening in Truro!

The reindeer parade and late night shopping was an unmissable opportunity to get our Jack and the Beanstalk panto cast members out and about. The event was also the ideal time to launch "Jack's Bell Bingo" and the cast quickly got stuck into the job of handing out numbered bells to just about anyone who caught their eye!

The bells were a huge hit and Victoria Square was quickly ringing to the sound of countless tiny bells - a sound that followed along the route of the parade as we had a massive 650 bells to give out during the evening.   Each bell has a corresponding numbered envelope which can be obtained from Box Office by bringing your bell in.  Prizes include drinks and food from our restaurant and coffee shop, posters and panto tickets.

After the parade hopeful youngsters were turning up at the Box Office, bells in hand, to see what they had won.  Though many bells remain as yet un-redeemed (we assume because the children wouldn't give them to Mum or Dad to read the instructions!) we had quite a few lucky winners with tickets, posters and other prizes being claimed.

Whilst the title of last night's event was "Reindeer Parade", an unexpected appearance by our panto cow, Daisy, temporarily upstaged the reindeer when she made a brief appearance at the start of the parade.  She even walked some of the route before it all became a bit much for her poor hooves and she made her way back to the stable to rest.

All of the panto characters, and especially Daisy, proved popular with the crowd and many photos were snapped.  The cast did an incredible job with handing out bells and fliers in what was the first of no doubt many public appearances ahead of opening night.  The event was a great success in raising awareness of the panto at Hall for Cornwall and it's nice to think of all those Christmas trees out there that will have an HfC bell hanging on them this December!

Further bell hand-outs are expected between now and Christmas so keep an eye and ear out for them at future late night shopping evenings.

It's not too late to redeem your Bingo Bell by bringing it into the Box Office.

All youngsters GET TO KEEP THEIR BELL regardless of whether it is a winning bell or not.  All bells offer a small complimentary prize so please do pop along with them if you haven't already.  Please note, though, that only bells with their valid number can be accepted as without them we cannot verify which envelope belongs to that bell.

Public Notice:

We received special permission to allow Dame Trot into a public place from her "sheltered home for the excitable"on the understanding she was properly chaparoned!  She was returned home after the event, took her medication, and had a settled night.

Stage Door Chat; Steve Steinman from Vampires Rock

Stage Door went backstage to find Steve Steinman ahead of his one night at Hall for Cornwall with Vampires Rock. The combination of Rock Music and Vampires seemed worthy of discussion!

To start with I observed that the show had a storyline. I asked Steve whether he felt Rock Anthems are a particularly good medium for telling a story - and had he found it easy to find songs to fit the key moments?

"Rock music is very good for telling a story," Steve replied. "We didn't fit music around the story in Vampires Rock - the story came from the songs which flowed naturally from one to the other.  When we were picking the set there was a natural progression of songs; you know what should follow each one and a story emerged."  Steve was quick to emphasise that Vampires Rock isn't a musical in the traditional sense.

"It's a Concert first, we tie it together with a bit of dialogue and storyline but it's not a musical."  He explained that in musicals he'd seen he'd often felt that the dialogue got in the way of the songs. "It's a speeded-up musical in a way.  I think of it as a theatrical concert. There isn't really a name for it!" I asked if he felt this was a new concept unique to him. "I suppose it is. There isn't anything else quite like it."

This show is very flamboyant!  Is it important to have that type of backdrop to some of these numbers?

"Definitely. Classic Rock needs that; its what it is. Rock is over the top.  I think audiences do expect that at a rock concert.  The theatrics add to the experience."  Steve pointed out as well that since many of the original artists are known for the theatrics in their shows that the pyrotechnics etc are almost part of the music.  He remarked that if many of the well-known acts like Alice Cooper "just turned up on stage and strummed away quietly" their audience would be baffled!

You're a well-known singer of Meat Loaf's songs.  What makes these songs special for you, and what do you think is their more universal appeal?

"Those songs are how my career started on Stars in their Eyes so they're very important to me for that reason," Steve answered. "It was that show that gave me a taste for performing - before that I had a "normal" job.  The show and those songs have got me where I am and allowed me to create a career in music."

With regard to their universal appeal, Steve said "They have great storylines.  Songs are a moment in time for people and music takes them back to that moment.  Bat out of Hell was a huge seller, for instance, and so the music means something to a lot of people. It takes them back to that moment when they were listening to it for the first time. The music is big, epic - not unlike Queen's stuff."  Steve was quick to praise the writing and music as well as Meat Loaf's performance of the material.

"Jim Steinman wrote it and deserves a lot of credit.  A lot of the inspiration for Vampires Rock comes from his lyrics."  Steve added, "We could easily have done Vampires Rock using just Meat Loaf material.  But we decided to use a range of rock classics as it gave us more scope."

I asked if this was Steve's first visit to Hall for Cornwall and if there was anything particular he liked about coming down here.

"I've visited three times now, I think," he replied. "Sure, its a great place to visit; feels like coming down to the end of the world!  It's nice to get a good crowd in and filling the venue is important, because of the distance.  It's great when you do, though, because you feel very positive about the rest of the tour.  If you sell well in Cornwall you feel that the tour will do well elsewhere."  he added that he was very pleased with Monday night's audience.  "People know the product now of course. I imagine it is harder for new acts.  People have to take Vampires Rock for what it is - it's not too serious but it's entertaining.  We really do aim to impress and give people ten times more what they're expecting.  Beating expectations is important for us."

Going back to the show, do you think Vampires Rock has bought Rock to a new audience via the vampire theme, given how in fashion vampires seem to be at the moment?

"No, I don't think so, " Steve answered. "Our audience has built steadily over the years.  The recent films aren't about proper vampires anyway!  Twilight, for instance, it's just High School Musical with teeth!  It's about kids and non vampires falling in love with vampires - nothing like Rock Vampires!"  Steve did acknowledge that it was good that it raised awareness and got people talking and thinking about vampires. "But it's nothing to do with Rock."

He described Rock Vampires as much darker and more edgy. "I'd say Lost Boys is closer to Rock Vampires really - there's that edge to it.  Interview with a Vampire is probably the best vampire movie."

Given that vampires are famously immortal, do you think Rock Music will, in fact, live forever?

"Yes!" Steve was pretty positive on this point!  "Queen, AC/DC are still going strong, in fact they're bigger than ever!  There's lots of bands coming back."  The music still has appeal and Steve feels that its become "cool" again with lots of different people listening to it.

Finally I asked him whether he felt anyone new will take the baton from the older groups and continue the Rock story.

"I'm not sure," Steve replied. "People tend to do new stuff so I don't know whether anyone will, or could, take over from the classic groups.  Mind you, you do get new groups that do that.  Oasis, for instance, they were just The Beatles, weren't they?  Maybe a group will do the same with Rock."

We'd like to thank Steve for his time and we very much hope he'll be back again soon!

Jack and the Beanstalk Panto gets underway!

With panto season nearly upon us, staff at Hall for Cornwall took the opportunity to properly welcome the cast of Jack and the Beanstalk to the theatre ahead of the first script read-through this morning.  Most of the theatre departments were represented at a short informal reception held in the Stars Restaurant allowing us all to meet the cast and the production crew ahead of a busy schedule of rehearsals and a packed 3 weeks of performances.  The cast seemed to be looking forward to the challenge and getting their teeth into a script packed with gags and larger-then-life characters.

We're welcoming back a few familiar faces and some local actors this year and Stage Door blog will be meeting and talking to most of them in the run-up to opening night.  In fact, Stage Door will be following the panto cast closely as they prepare for an exciting season, with regular updates on rehearsals and all the other preparations that go into staging your annual panto.

In the meantime, why not test your wit and reflexes with our Jack's Catch the Coins game? Click HERE to play.

Pictures: Staff and panto cast mix at the reception. Aftwerwards the cast get down to business with a first read-through of this year's script.

The Show Will Go On!

It's been a busy 14 hours here at Hall for Cornwall, but following a hurculean effort by staff we are pleased to announce that tonight's Grapes of Wrath performance WILL go ahead as planned!

Unfortunately, during last night's performance one of the below-stage sprinklers was triggered.  Due to the location, water collected very quickly and for safety reasons power in the theatre had to be shut off and the performance cancelled.

Once the theatre had been checked by the fire brigade, the clean-up operation began immediately with staff working until the early hours.  Even one sprinkler can discharge a huge quantity of water in a relatively short space of time and it was a lot of work to set things to rights.

At the time of writing, we have successfully dealt with the water and have installed industrial driers in the affected areas.  Aside from drying out, we have obviously also had to conduct work on the sprinkler system itself and extensively test the electrics to ensure tonight's performance can go ahead.

Investigations into the cause of the incident are ongoing but I am pleased to be able to report that damage appears minimal due in large part to the swift actions of staff in dealing with the water.

We would all like to offer our apologies to any of our readers who were caught up in what proved to be a disappointing and difficult night.  In such cases, where a sprinkler has activated, evacuation of the audience, cast and staff is absolutely necessary whilst the cause of the alarm is investigated by the fire brigade.

All audience members are being offered the choice between a refund or an alternate performance, with Box Office staff working today to re-accommodate many of last night's audience into the remaining performances.  The play is well worth  seeing and we hope to be welcoming most of our disappointed audience members back tonight and tomorrow.

We have been grateful for the messages of support and understanding from our customers.  Your help and good natured cooperation with the staff who conducted the evacuation is also very much appreciated by us all.

Box Office can be contacted on 01872 262466

As you can see from the pictures taken this morning we are almost back to normal.  The pictured sprinkler (top) is an example of the one triggered  - the size of the pipe gives some idea of the discharge rate of the system!

Friends Meet the Stars

Hall for Cornwall held a "Meet the Stars" event for the Friends of the theatre after last night's opening performance of Grapes of Wrath.  These events are one of the benefits offered to the Friends of the theatre and are an important part of how Hall for Cornwall operates.

As well as allowing our Friends to meet and talk to the performers, last night's event allowed us to properly welcome the cast to Cornwall and make them feel at home.  After a flawless opening night performance there was no question of the warmth of the reception.

Friendly company and a drink or two was probably most welcome given that the sophisticated set used for Grapes of Wrath includes an on-stage river and a very efficient sprinkler system for the torrential rain scenes that leave most of the cast pretty damp by the final curtain!  They seemed none the worse for it by the time they arrived in the Stars Bar though.

Grapes of Wrath has a fairly large cast with many very experienced and high profile actors.  There was plenty for our Friends to talk over with them and the event was enjoyed by all who attended.

Pictured are a selection of Friends of Hall for Cornwall chatting with Rebecca Night who played Rose of Sharon.

THIS WEEK!

The English Touring Theatre bring their production of The Grapes of Wrath to Hall for Cornwall this week.  Headed by Christopher Timothy, Sorcha Cusack and Oliver Cotton this production received two Tony Awards on Broadway and has been well received by reviewers in the national press during its tour.

Grapes of Wrath opens tonight and runs until Saturday with evening performances starting at 7.30pm.  matinees are on Thursday and Saturday from 2.30pm.

Stage Door will definitely bring you more news on this production as the week goes on!

For seat availability and online booking click HERE

Stage Door Chat; Dancing in the Streets

 l-r (Paul Hazel, Rob Grose, Courtney Buchannan, Adebayo Bolaji)

Stage Door went backstage to talk to some of the cast of the West End show Dancing in the Streets during their run at the Hall for Cornwall.  We talked about the music and the great Motown artists that inspired the show.  I started by chatting to Paul and Rob.

Firstly I asked whether the cast were inspired to be portraying such great artists and performing their music.

“Absolutely!” was the reply from Paul who performs Smokey Robinson’s numbers in the show. “How could you not be?”  Both agreed that they were very aware of the history of both the songs and artists.

“We’re not mimicking them, that’s very important,” Rob told me.  “We recreate the look as best we can but the main thing the show recreates is the energy of these performers and their music.”

 I asked whether they had put something of themselves and their own interpretation into the performances.

 “More than a little” they both agreed. “The performances are mostly us.  There are aspects we can recreate; dance moves, and obviously some artists like Stevie Wonder and Diana Ross have a certain style.  But a lot of these artists can’t be mimicked.  They don’t have any “isms” and that’s where we are able to perform with the same energy but in our own way.”

I also asked them if any of the artists were particular favourites of theirs.  

“You naturally get attached to your own set,”  Paul replied. Rob agreed but they both added that the Stevie Wonder numbers are particularly special to perform, even as backing singers, and that the Temptations were a favourite prior to the show.

My next question was how they felt that these artists compared to modern pop stars.

“No comparison!” they replied instantly. “We’re talking about these performers and enjoying their music 50 years later.  Do you think they will be doing that with who we’ve got at the moment?”

They agreed though that there are similarities, particularly in how the groups then, and now, were very carefully put together by the recording companies.  This opinion was echoed by some of the female actors who also noted that the groups were created in a quite artificial way not unlike today.

As a follow-up I asked the cast how they thought their acts might fare on a show such as the X factor.

“The problem would be getting through in the first place,” Rob explained.  “Quite a few of the Motown stars were very raw at the start.  They had no social graces, some may well have been in trouble with the law in the past.  The studio managed them very carefully.  I don’t know whether they would have made it past audition for that reason. But on the show, absolutely.  They’d blow the competition away.  There was such raw talent and energy.”

“Take Smokey, for instance,” Paul added “It wouldn’t matter what he performed, he’d always attack it hard and put in a great performance. There was such raw talent there it would definitely shine through… if they got on.”

Both the male and the female actors were quick to point out that these groups were every bit as manufactured as modern bands.  In that sense they might have fitted the X Factor format.  They also commented that Motown’s studio auditioned in a not dissimilar way, with queues around the block on occasion.  However the sense was that Motown had an eye for spotting talent in very rough diamonds which modern promoters and studios might not be prepared to take on.

The consensus of the female artists was much the same – getting on might have been an issue but there is no question that The Supremes would stand out!

Turning to the music itself, I asked what they thought it was that made some of these songs such classics.

“The lyrics" Rob answered at once.  “They are very powerful, and full of meaning.  Lots of them tell stories and they just resonate. There is lots of double meaning there as well.”  They explained that these artists were true all-rounders writing a lot of the songs themselves.

“The way they combined lyrics and dance moves was very clever too." Rob added. "You see it during some performances, the audience are automatically doing the steps and actions they’ve seen on old clips.  Like “Stop in the Name of Love” everyone remembers that.  The visual element with the music was very important.”

I then asked how hard some of these numbers are to sing given their wide vocal range.

“Very hard indeed!” both replied.  “They were written right at the top of the register.  This was deliberate, to create that pleading, sincere sound.  But singing eight shows a week, this puts a real strain on our voices.  There are a couple of numbers where we’ve dropped it an octave.  Performing on tour is a very different game. You couldn’t hit those notes every night as you would in a studio recording.”

They also explained that protecting their voices was a tough job. “It’s unbelievable what you have to do!  Cold draughts are really bad for us. Obviously you avoid anyone with a cold etc. You’ll notice a lot of us wear scarves!”

 Finally I couldn’t leave without giving them a chance to comment on the wigs.

“You get attached to them!” Rob replied dryly.  “No, seriously, it’s something that gives the audience a quiet smile.  A couple are actually a bit more extreme than the artist’s real hairstyles but that’s part of the drama of the show.  The visual effect on stage is important. They’re not too bad.”

Welcome to Stage Door, the Hall for Cornwall blog!

This is an entirely new endeavour for Hall for Cornwall and hopefully one that will prove popular with our audiences!  What you see here when you attend a show is just the very tip of the iceberg.  The theatre is a complex organisation in which a very wide range of staff contribute in many areas, often hidden from public view.

"Stage Door" aims to offer an interesting glimpse behind the scenes and to introduce some of the people who ensure the sound works, the lights come on and the curtain goes up!

We also hope to share some additional information about performances, such as what goes into producing the annual pantomime.

The name "Stage Door" implies back-stage access and the Stage Door blog will not disappoint!  We will feature interviews and profiles of as many visiting performers as possible - giving you extra information and insight into performances and the actors in them.

Alongside this, will be regular updates on upcoming shows and latest ticket availability.  If you love theatre and Hall for Cornwall, make sure this blog is added to your favourites!