James is an experienced musical director. His last production was with Van Mildert JCR in Durham, of Fame! The Musical. All rehearsals were completed in the short space of time of a week. It all started with a scheme dreamed up in the depths of the Easter Holidays after everyone else in Durham had gone home – performing Fame as a full college musical in the summer, back when ‘the summer’ seemed a long way away. So, when exams finished and lots of people turned up for their first rehearsal, exactly one week before the show was about to open it brought the enormity of the task itself home to me somewhat. A first in recent times for college, the show was a full musical, with scripts and scores hired from the licensors in London and a publicity drive across the whole of Durham in an attempt to get as many people through the doors as possible. Below are a few pictures:
Publicity
Cast Finale
Heavy into band rehearsals…
Performances
Hopefully some of you made it to see the final production, performed in the hall from Monday 9th to Wednesday 11th June; we had decent audiences every night and it was (although exhausting to the 50 strong cast, band and crew) to be a resounding success. Many thanks to everyone who was in any way involved, came to see us on one of the nights, or even just kept me sane during the week of rehearsals! Hopefully the tradition of a summer musical can carry on within Van Mildert, and I look forward to seeing what next year has to offer! Many thanks to Seb Payne for these photographs.
