Kidderminster Operatic and Dramatic Society plus The Nonentities, Kidderminster Town Hall

3:40pm Saturday 3rd May 2008

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AFTER a rather hesitant first few numbers, we were treated to a programme of nostalgia and we got to join in with many of the old songs, most of which were long before my time (honestly!).

Highlights of the evening included the inimitable Daphne Knight in authentic accent with childhood memories of the Black Country and a day out and Pat Powell recalled the late Joyce Grenfell's delightful Old Time Dance Class, leaping around the stage, thought not exactly "as stately as a galleon".

There was a barber-type "quartet" which comprised five singers and the perennial crowd pleaser, The Gendarmes, John Watkins told us of Lucky Jim and husband and wife team Nigel and Coletta Preece became A Couple Of Swells.

There was a good selection from The Mikado, led by Claire Hadland with a superb rendition of The Sun Whose Rays, and Charles Combes wanted to Let the Punishment Fit the Crime, but I am sure G and S never envisaged three little "maids" like these!

My thanks to Bryan Potter for singing the beautiful and far too rarely heard, When I Leave The World Behind, which was outstanding. Congratulations must go to Alison Faulkner, Rosie Hopkins, Kathryn Knight, Jill Parmenter, Wendy Richards and Jackie Rutland for a superb Can-can, which left me out of breath.

However, there were several numbers which would have benefited from more rehearsal, and I felt that the chairman, David Howarth, could have practised reading the introductions a bit more.

All in all though, this was a most enjoyable evening and a lot of fun.

VJS