WADAOS Vice Chair, James Last suggested “Into the Woods” to the Committee and this was agreed upon. They were confident that with James at the helm as Director, Mike Ames as Musical Director and Tracy McOuat as assistant Director and Choreographer, we could pull off such a complex and challenging production. Sondheim’s works are known for their challenging numbers and the serious hard work that is needed to achieve a successful performance. The committee were proven to be correct in this assumption little did they know that at the time but with ambition, courage and maybe a few magic beans they went ahead.
The launch night was held at the Haven Club on Wednesday 26th April 2023 with auditions following a week later. There was an encouraging amount of interest at the launch night, and it was discovered that a lot of people were waiting in the wings so to speak for a production of “Into the Woods” to take part in.
The Castings were announced on the 31st of May 2023. Looking at the cast list one could tell that this would be a production of extremely high calibre, with great talent on show both of experience and new alike.
Rehearsals were held on Mondays and Wednesdays at Red Lonning Community Centre and The Haven Club, and this continued weekly with the eventual addition of Sunday afternoons all the way up until show week. An unbelievable amount of effort and work was put in by all. Special mention needs to be given to our lead production team for their unwavering commitment and dedication to ensure we could pull off the show.
Emma Jarvis, a committee member, also in the cast, created with mastery what would turn out to be the star of the show “Milky White” a cow that plays a large part of the “Into the Woods” story.
At the Whitehaven Alive festival held in and around Whitehaven town center on 9th September. “Milky White” was paraded with the support of her puppet master Emma to the delight of the general public.
A moment to remember being the hilarious scene of “Milky” refusing to pass the Butchers shop and having to be dragged past by Wendy. We have photographs of this for our archive. Along with “Milky White” other members of the cast also made an appearance in and out of costume during the day, promoting and handing out leaflets with details of the upcoming production. The cast also promoted the production by wearing branded hoodies and T shirts in their day to day activities and at rehearsals.
Behind the scenes the committee were also hard at work fundraising and gaining sponsorship. Without this crucial work that often goes unrecognized society would simply cease to function. It costs an awful lot of money to put on a production and a special mention needs to be given to the chair Lynn McTiffin for her tireless and thankless work on this matter. All the members of the committee and many volunteers that are too many to mention individually but none less important also gave many hours of their time and energy.
The costumes arrived from Molly Limpets Costumers a week prior to the show, and all were very happy with them being of high quality. Helen Wilkinson, seamstress also created a marvelous costume for this production.
Chris Simpson (SIMPIE) the stage manager for this production and his team pulled out all the stops and created three twelve foot movable trees. Not an easy job and very ambitious indeed but they as always delivered and exceeded expectations. Indeed, all of the staging props and special effects were exemplary.
The cast moved to Rosehill Theatre on Sunday 29th October, bringing props, costumes, and accessories. The technical rehearsal took place on Monday 30th October and the Dress rehearsal on Tuesday 31st. Any issues were ironed out during these rehearsals. Rosehill having a rather small stage gave the whole team a challenge, but this was overcome.
On Wednesday 1st November 2023 the show opened. Besides some small technical problems, the show went down a storm.
The performance on Thursday the 2nd of November had a larger audience. The society President Ripley Steele was in attendance with his sister in law Helen Wilkinson. After the show Ripley awarded and presented the President’s trophy in memory of Elizabeth Simpson to Whitney Bell who played Little Red Riding Hood in the production.
On Friday 3rd November Councilor Chris Hayes, Mayor of Whitehaven was in attendance. Unfortunately, Angela Hayes the Mayoress was unable to attend due to being unwell. The mayor was introduced to the cast backstage and photographs were taken on stage.
There was a Matinee performance on Saturday 4th November at 1pm. At this performance the society were honored to welcome Noda President Christine Hunter Hughes, and Northwest regional councilor Andy McNicholas. At the end of the performance, they were taken backstage by Ripley Steele and Ryan Parrish a committee member to meet the cast and crew. Photographs were taken on stage. A meet and greet was held after this performance in the foyer with selected cast members meeting the audience and children.
There not being much time between the end of the Matinee performance and the last show in the evening, many of the cast and crew stayed at the theatre and had a quick meal and social time together. Many spent this time having their programs signed and photographs taken together.
At the Saturday evening performance in attendance was Clark Wilkinson, District 10 Noda regional Representative. During the interval the cast voted for who they would like to be awarded the trophy. The votes were counted independently, and Mike Ames the musical director was given the award with the highest number of votes. The trophy was presented by James Last the Director in the presence of the Chair Lynn McTiffin, and the entire cast.
Throughout the week the society was pleased to welcome representatives from our show sponsors.
Two days after the final performance the society received a moving note from the national president of Noda Christine Hunter Hughes, Quote.
“To all at Whitehaven and District Amateur Operatic Society.
I just wanted to drop you a note to thank you so much for inviting me to your production of ‘Into the Woods’, and what a treat it was!!! You really made the story come alive for me, despite having seen it a couple of times before. Thank you also, as always, for making me so very welcome.
I really enjoyed the show. So much so that I am not totally sure where to go from there. Put simply, it was a super production. Everything was just right, casting, direction, scenery, props, costumes, orchestra with some excellent characterizations. The cast were obviously committed to the show, their total energy and commitment to the production was tangible, and certainly appreciated by the audience. Many, many congratulations to the entire cast for such a sterling performance – congratulations also to the entire production team, orchestra, crew, and chaperones. All in all, a most enjoyable evening. I thought the set and the cow were wonderful. Doubly so as I understand they were made ‘in house’.
Thank you for allowing me to meet the cast. I have already written on Facebook, under Noda President, in the hope that fellow Noda members can share my journey round the country visiting more and more members of the Noda family.
Thank you so very, very much for allowing me to be part of it.
Chris”
A final after show party was held at Red Lonning Community Centre with a Faith supper. Those in attendance met there at 7pm and it lasted until approximately 11pm. Along with the faith supper there was music and karaoke.
On January 26th, 2024, it was announced that our production of ‘Into the Woods’ had won two Noda Awards for (District 10). The whole society were thrilled. The two Awards were: Sam Smethurst for 'Best Leading Male in a Musical' as 'The Baker’ and James Last for 'Best Director a Musical' for 'Into the Woods'.
Written and Published by R Parrish 2023.
