Did Somebody Say "Amateur?!"

This article was immensely enjoyable both to research and produce! It involves a local charity known as Centre Stage, and was produced, minus the video, for the Wood & Vale newspaper. The video, however, adds that certain something.

Treading the Boards

St John's Wood charity Centre Stage performed to a sold out audience in central London on Saturday night, proving that their dramatics are anything but amateur!

Centre Stage take centre stage

Centre Stage has been giving people from all walks of life the opportunity to express themselves on stage for over 40 years.

Past performances include West Side Story and Anything Goes. The group’s current show, “I LOVE Centre Stage”, has been playing to sold out audiences of hundreds for the past two weeks at St Mary’s Church, Old Marylebone Road.

The show is a musical celebration of love in all its forms. When love is good, when love is bad, and when it’s somewhere in between.

Saturday night’s show was opened by Murray Grant, lawyer by day, solo vocalist by night, with Love Changes Everything.

Says Mr Grant: “I’m quite calm before hand. It’s only when I walk out there on stage that the nerves start to flutter a little. But it’s great to be the first out.”

23 year old Rachael Holbrook was next up, showing off her strong, touching vocals. Ms Holbrook currently harbours a desire to turn professional, and is in the process of auditioning for a number of rolls.

Rachael Holbrook performs solo

The show continued, alternating between group performances, the 30 or so voices easily filling the ample space; and individual acts, displaying the vocal talents of many of the group’s members.

David Walker-Smith gave a series of fantastic performances, rousing the audience with the breadth of his vocal range. Having become engaged the previous week, Mr Walker-Smith displayed an easy familiarity with the theme of the show.

Richard Le Coq continued to entertain the crowd with a well choreographed act, as two beautiful girls fought over the pint sized singer with the barrel sized voice.

The night, however, was stolen by Siobhan McConnan and Paul Cozens, who had the audience in stitches with a classic performance of “I Can’t Do It”, a song reflecting on a fizzled out, passionless marriage.

Vocal harmony

The passion of Centre Stage, however, was there for all to see. Thankfully, the warning of modest director Peter Mills- “the more you drink, the better we sound”, was unnecessary. The dramatics may have been amateur; but the ability and passion, were nothing but professional.

Report:

This article was produced for the Wood & Vale newspaper. I chanced upon the opportunity to cover this story through conversation with an acquaintance in the area, who is a member of Centre Stage. I arranged a visit to view the show via the group chairwoman, and gathered the vast majority of material on the night.

All interviews were conducted before and after the show, allowing for relevant quotes from those who played important roles. Cornering those I wished to speak to was a challenge with so much going on, but it paid off in the end. I also made a few calls in the days after the show itself to check on names, spelling, etc.

I figured the article was ideal 'local news' territory. It always promised to be a highly visual story, and with Centre Stage being a registered charity, there is a sense of social good. Covering the performance offered the ideal chance to promote the group, and raise awareness of their work within the community.

The original article maintained more of a feature feel throughout, and was considerably longer, including a call at the bottom for any new potential stars! I therefore tried to steer this version more towards a news angle through the introduction, so as to keep it short, and to the point.

I was particularly happy with the images, in particular the image which introduces the piece. It establishes the article nicely, (complete with a little touching up and added effects of my own!)

The videos, complete with titles and minor effects which I have experimented with for the first time here, also add a very nice touch to what is a very audio visual story in its nature.