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One thing's certain about a Fortwilliam Musical Society show, there's always a little squirt or two of humour inserted here and there, even if it's not exactly according to the script.
Oodles of humour last night, and what a presentation of choral work and choreography. As always, Fortwilliam rightly sets itself among the best choral line-ups found anywhere in the amateur movement today.
Well, as with any show, there has to be a main character, and what a choice the Society made in selecting Eugene O'Hagan as the Major General. He can, of course, sing magnificently, but there's also a great acting ability present as well.
His exploitation of "Old Red Socks", as some people have described a certain cleric, holds a humour all its own, but Eugene surely adds a lot to the part himself that no producer could possibly conceive on his own.
But the line-up for the show has lots of other major characters played by such notables as John Hinchey, Michael McAdoo, Adrian Terrington (sic), a remarkably versatile Siobhan Mullin as Ruth and Michael Blair, whose men in blue would do a great disservice to any police force around today.
Youth is a very strong feature of the Society, and young actors include Rosemary O'Connor and Siobhan McQuaid, as well as a host of very talented youngsters.
Joyce Greenaway as Mabel showed the wide range of her voice, but maybe the one really sparkling feature of the whole musical production under William Cairns, Peter Kennedy and Joanne Laverty was the superb lighting, and a simple set that showed how a little can become a lot in expert hands.
It's a show which gives that "go away happy" feeling, so don't miss it during the rest of this week.
Louis O'Connell