Gigi marks milestone

9:49am Friday 4th April 2008

MUSICALS are not commonly performed in the round.

Then again, for Ombersley Dramatic Society, this year is quite uncommon. The group is celebrating its 50th anniversary and hoping that a special production of Gigi will mark the milestone in style.

The much-loved musical was famously adapted into a film starring Leslie Caron and Maurice Chevalier in 1958 and society members, set to perform their version at Ombersley Memorial Hall later this month, are acutely aware of how special this show will be.

Working with the company for the first time is experienced director Martin Copland-Gray, of Worcester.

"There are a lot of good amateur companies out there," he said.

"And we were keen to try a few things which is why we decided to do it in the round.

"Without sounding all artistic, I guess we want to break down the fourth wall."

Full of praise for the cast, Copland-Gray said they have been "incredibly brave" in the face of the challenge.

"They have trusted us (Copland-Gray's financee Lucy Rix is the show's stage manager) with some totally new concepts and new ideas."

Having been a society member for close to 48 years, Mike Turner is used to change.

"When we first started we only did plays," he said.

"Then in the 60s and 70s we started doing more musical things. We like to stretch ourselves and this is certainly a stretch.

"We've never done anything in the round. We'll be much closer to the audience but it's exciting. We're really enjoying it."

Gigi, based on the French novel by Colette, was the first musical from librettist Alan Jay Lerner and composer Frederick Loewe following My Fair Lady.

It tells the story of young girl, Gigi, living in Paris in the early 1900s. It features well-known songs such as Thank Heaven For Little Girls and The Night They Invented Champagne.

The movie picked up nine Oscars.

For tickets to see the show, which runs from Monday, April 14 to Saturday, April 19, call Mike Turner on 01905 620757.

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