Come From Away - what a show!
Well done to all the students who took part in Come From Away - that was an incredible performance.
We are all so proud of your achievement.
Mr Lester's review.....
I think it’s fair to say that every year we think we can’t outdo last year’s big show! This year, certainly, we were ‘under pressure’ to try to top We Will Rock You. With such a well-known score and such a fabulous production, the Queen show was always going to be hard to beat. Come From Away was very different: a relatively new musical, unknown music, a pared-back set and a more minimalist production...
Yet, what a show!
A tub-thumping, barnstorming soundtrack; some fantastic ensemble work and choreographed big hitters, but equally some much more tender solo moments in this true tale of hope and humanity, found in Gander, Newfoundland, during the darkest of times.
A technically demanding show, staged with a small cast in the West End, was enlarged and enhanced by the ensemble work, which helped elevate exceptional stand-out solo pieces to create, perhaps, an even bigger sense of community rallying around the ‘come from aways’.
As I watch these shows, I am in awe of the talent and courage of the young performers and of the staff who have brought it all to fruition; hundreds of hours of work. Not only do I enjoy the shows tremendously, but it gives me a real lift seeing the bonds that have been created between the cast, crew and staff who have worked so hard. Long after the final curtain closes, those memories and bonds will last.
Come From Away was simply staggering. Perhaps the best compliment I can give is that yesterday, Sunday 19/7, as I rode 73 miles round East Kent on a ‘Bicycle Race’, it wasn’t Queen that kept me going; it was Come from Away! It was singing those tunes in my head that got me up the hills!
Another stand-out moment in another incredible year for both the performing arts at FSG and the school more broadly.