Bitter Sweet
29th October - 5th November 1983
Photographs by John Tustin
| Production Officials | |
|---|---|
| Director | Audrey H. McL. Raistrick |
| Musical Director | Jessie Whittaker |
| Choreographer | Wendy Duckworth |
| Cast | |
| Singer/Freda | Irene Bowers |
| Vincent Howard/ Cedric Ballantyne | Mike Taylor |
| Dolly Chamberlain | Shirley Greaves |
| Lord Henry Jekyll/ Vernon Craft | Andrew Turton |
| Marchioness of Shayne | Renee Easterbrook |
| Nita | Sharon Hounslea |
| Helen/Mrs Devon | Hazel Gray |
| Jackie | Janice Warburton |
| Sarah Millick | Joyce Foster |
| Carl Linden | Ross Dunning |
| Mrs Millick | Claire Clarkson |
| Hon Hugh Devon | Graham Yardley |
| Lady Devon | Mary Greaves |
| Sir Arthur Fenchurch /Herr Schlick | Ernest Pollitt |
| Victoria | Kathleen Holland |
| Harriet | Mary Pycroft |
| Honor | Heather Kirby |
| Jane | Dorothy Yardley |
| Effie | Helen Bennett |
| Gloria | Gillian Kirby |
| Lord Steere | Norman Bowers |
| Lord James | Keith Richardson |
| Lord Sorrel | Bill Steel |
| Mr Vale | Gary Hopkinson |
| Mr Bethel | Ivor Tavener |
| Mr Proutie | Adrian Pollitt |
| Stage Violinist | George Wood |
| Lotte | Betty Towler |
| Hansi | Margaret Steel |
| Gussi | Glenys Collinson |
| Manon | Glenys Poole |
| Captain August Lutte | Robin Foster |
| Lieutenant Tranisch | Alec Greaves |
| Marquis of Shayne | Jack Sutcliffe |
| Bertram Sellick | Colin Crompton |
| Henry Jade | Stanley Collinson |
Dancers |
|
| Carole Brooks, Diane Ivill, Barbara Martin, Vanessa Ryder, Vicky Spencer, Ruth Wilcock | |
Company |
|
| David Raistrick, Norma Dootson, Catherine Dunning, Barbara Haslam, Norma Pollitt | |
- Bolton Evening News Review
- Manchester Evening News Review
Noel Coward's "Bitter Sweet" has a rich vein of melody flowing through it, most of it, like the hit song "I'll See You Again" in three-four time. It's modelled on the Viennese operettas of Strauss, but with Coward's own beautiful bone-dry lyrics.
Walmsley Church AODS is giving it a welcome revival this week, firmly directed by Audrey H. McL. Raistrick and with good support from the musicians under Jessie Whittaker.
Coward provides some memorable tunes, including "Zigeuner" and the regulation drinking song for the soldiers. But he's at his witty best when writing for the "outsiders", the shady ladies of the town and the effeminate fops of Vienna cafe society, revelling in the disapproval they provoke.
The show has its own rompingly rude bunch of flappers, but concentrates for the most part on the vain, self-absorbed members of the aristocracy.
At the centre of the show is the young pair of lovers, with soprano Joyce Foster singing attractively, and hinting at the girl's underlying wistfulness.
She is well partnered by Ross Dunning, a conspicuously "nice guy" as the cafe pianist Carl Linden. Glenys Poole gives a good performance too as the cloche-hatted mantrap, Manon.
Walmsley's production is at its best in the effective cabaret atmosphere of the second act, in which Coward obviously felt most at home. It's a rare revival of a large cast show which was first given a spectacular staging by C.B. Cochran in Manchester in 1929, the same that Walmsley performed its very first show.
Ron Lawson
Walmsley Church AODS is giving it a welcome revival this week, firmly directed by Audrey H. McL. Raistrick and with good support from the musicians under Jessie Whittaker.
Coward provides some memorable tunes, including "Zigeuner" and the regulation drinking song for the soldiers. But he's at his witty best when writing for the "outsiders", the shady ladies of the town and the effeminate fops of Vienna cafe society, revelling in the disapproval they provoke.
The show has its own rompingly rude bunch of flappers, but concentrates for the most part on the vain, self-absorbed members of the aristocracy.
At the centre of the show is the young pair of lovers, with soprano Joyce Foster singing attractively, and hinting at the girl's underlying wistfulness.
She is well partnered by Ross Dunning, a conspicuously "nice guy" as the cafe pianist Carl Linden. Glenys Poole gives a good performance too as the cloche-hatted mantrap, Manon.
Walmsley's production is at its best in the effective cabaret atmosphere of the second act, in which Coward obviously felt most at home. It's a rare revival of a large cast show which was first given a spectacular staging by C.B. Cochran in Manchester in 1929, the same that Walmsley performed its very first show.
Ron Lawson
Noel Coward's large-scale operetta "Bitter Sweet" i snot an easy production. Walmsley Church Operatic, Egerton, Bolton, are not a society to shirk a challenge.
Joyce Foster and Ross Dunning were admirably cast as the romantic lovers and handled their love duets without too much of the mawkishness that usual;ly mars this musical.
Glenys Poole revelled in the role of Manon and the chorus excelled in their rendering of Tokay.
The quartet numbers "Ladies Of The Town" and "Green Carnations" gave a timely boost to Audrey McL Raistrick's very competent production.
Joyce Foster and Ross Dunning were admirably cast as the romantic lovers and handled their love duets without too much of the mawkishness that usual;ly mars this musical.
Glenys Poole revelled in the role of Manon and the chorus excelled in their rendering of Tokay.
The quartet numbers "Ladies Of The Town" and "Green Carnations" gave a timely boost to Audrey McL Raistrick's very competent production.
