Newcomers, What's My Line? Wow audience with their first show!
- 14 minutes ago
- 4 min read
What's My Line? present Order Up! at Allesley Village Hall, Coventry for one night only. Written and directed by Olly Brassington and Billy Arnold.
Review by Ann Evans
Newly created theatre group What's My Line? staged their new musical show Order Up! at the weekend completely blowing the audience away at Allesley Village Hall with their performance. Not least because the young cast had just three days to learn their lines, rehearse their songs and learn the dance routines. Not to mention building the set, organising sound and lighting - and everything else that goes into putting on a stage show.
The driving force behind this hugely ambitious project are Olly Brassington aged 16 a student at BOA Creative, Digital Performaing Arts Academy and Billy Arnold aged 17 a student at Stratford-upon-Avon College. Both have been best friends since Year 1 at primary school, and both are now studying Musical Theatre. The pair received rapturous applause from the packed Allesley Village Hall as they welcomed everyone on Saturday evening to their musical, with the cast and some of the crew made up from fellow students.
Order Up! is set in a struggling 1980s American Diner on Route 66, Dot's Diner. Sadly, Dot has died, leaving her granddaughter Casey Lauper (played by Sophie Bull) to run it working alongside the diner’s staff, namely: George Michelle (Rox Jefferson), Tianna Turner (Ella Ridgeway-Powell), Tyler Bonnie (Lucy Carter), Rick Rollins (Zane Connellan) and Margo (Katie Keenan). And constantly snapping at their heels trying to buy the diner, is shrewd businessman Kyle Minouge (William Arbuckle). And not forgetting the youngest member of the cast, 11-year-old Ada Ellison, an absolute sweetheart, dancing brilliantly - often with Margo, backing other members of the cast singing around a dozen classic 80s songs.
Over the 90-minute two-act performance, the cast took us through the drama of the diner seeming about to fail, but ultimately with everyone pulling together, they turned the restaurant around into a viable business again.
Much of the story was told through the music and there were some amazing singers and dancers amongst this company. All did really well but special mention to Sophie Bull as Casey, Ella Ridgway-Powell as Tianna and Lucy Carter as Tyler – fabulous voices! We were treated to songs such as Manic Monday, Nothin's Gonna Stop Us Now, Running up that Hill, I'm Still Standing and Don't Stop Believing amongst others. William Arbuckle as businessman Kyle also brought cheers from the audience for some of his 'dance' moves - or should I say 'leaps'.
As I’m sure the whole team would agree, it wasn’t a totally faultless performance, but very enjoyable from start to finish with great energy and enthusiasm on stage. Throughout the village hall the atmosphere was thoroughly uplifting. Fun too with the cast serving tea and biscuits to the audience during the interval.
After the rapturous applause at the finale, I spoke to Olly, Billy and some of the cast. Olly, delighted at how the show went, gave me an insight into how this all came about. He said, “Last year we decided to put on a concert night, and as Billy and I both love musicals we have always said, wouldn’t it be great to put on our own musical. So as the lights went up on our concert we wondered if we could actually write and put on our own musical.
Billy added, “Last year I did a ‘Made in 48 hours’ show at the Talisman Theatre in Kenilworth, which made me think that maybe we could do something similar but with a younger team of performers from our colleges.”
Olly and Billy went on to say that they didn’t want to write their own music on this occasion, and as they both really like 80s music, they went for that theme. So, for around five months Olly and Billy worked on the script, incorporating lots of different ideas, which often added up to many late-night video calls.
“The name ‘What’s My Line?’ just sort of came to us and it’s stuck,” added Olly. “It wasn’t our aim to have a perfect show; we wanted to have fun. It was meant to be a bit cooky, a bit jankey, a bit broken. We are so proud of everyone for all the hard work they have put in.”
I also caught up with the some of the cast after the show. Ella Ridgway-Powell, aged 16, playing Tianna who sang and danced in the majority of the numbers said, “It was so much fun, but also very challenging in the best way possible. I’ve learnt so much, you learnt on the job; and it’s been really collaborative.”
Sophie Bull also aged 16 who played Casey added: “I was a bit hesitant to begin with but because Olly and Billy were directing it themselves, I decided to go for the challenge and I’ve really enjoyed it.”
Lucy Carter aged 15 who played Tyler, also choreographed the show with Olly, and it has to be said, seemed to be a natural comic on stage; she added, “It’s been like one big family and so much fun!”
Wiliam Arbuckle who played Kyle was also involved with lighting alongside Will Krikler. He said, “This has been an amazing week, it’s been so much fun, and the theatre have been so accommodating and supportive with equipment and technical support.”
Olly added, “We are really pleased and so proud of everybody, they have been dedicated and so professional. I’m so thankful, it’s been a treat to work with such a great team of people. A special thanks to Mark Smithers, Tom Boulton, Rosa Stringer, The Priory Theatre Technical Team, Get Creative, The Saints Drama Coventry, our Chaperone team – everyone else involved and of course everyone who turned up to support us!”
Next on the cards for What’s My Line? is ‘Rocky Horror Rocks’ coming this October.
For further information follow What’s My Line? on Instagram@wmltheatre, Facebook What’s My Line? Theatre or email: wmltheatre@gmail.com
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