Dimensions: Lost in the Music of Stage and Screen

Thanks once again to the Longton Players for giving Sue & I a really enjoyable evening. The production was absolutely 1st Class. Please could you thank everyone involved. It was pure entertainment! Kind regards, Martin & Sue

My wife and I came to watch your Dimensions musical comedy on Saturday night, and I’d just like to say that it was absolutely brilliant! I haven’t laughed so much in ages. You are a very talented group, and have some fantastic singers and dancers too.
Thank you, and well done.
Kind regards,
Nige

Dimensions – The Longton Players. Firstly, thank you, for inviting Clive and I, to a very vibrant musical extravaganza, penned by the very talented John Worrall-McBride, which we thoroughly enjoyed. The warm welcome by friendly faces in the Church hall was the start of a most enjoyable night. The cabaret style dressing and the “Tardis” bar created an atmosphere of ‘what’s to come’ a good nights entertainment ahead. John not only wrote Dimensions he also Directed and Produced this ambitious musical comedy. An incredible achievement and I’m sure he must be so proud of the outcome.

The opening box stage was set with a TARDIS, a time-traveling machine., that ‘Who’ (Ben Percival) the main character, uses to travel through time and space. He was joined by ‘Emmett’ (Mike Stockley) and ‘Annie’ (Briony Rimmer). The Tardis had crashed landed and they were on a mission to find the missing ‘sonic screwdriver’. They travelled back to the future and beyond landing in various popular musicals, including OZ, Wicked, Greatest Showman, Chicago, Moulin Rouge, Rocky Horror, Mama Mia and more. These shows are known for their catchy music, captivating stories, and elaborate staging, making them popular choices for audiences. Add to these scenes from Thriller, Queen, Disney shows and Monty Python, Mission Impossible and OO7. This was a fun packed extravaganza.

A stellar performance from Ben Percival, as this was a comedy musical and plot driven, he had to dig deep into his ‘Who” character and play it seriously. Never rushing or gabbling his words. He has a great ability to adapt from serious to comedy, an ensemble player who is very stage aware. The duet with Charlie Jones ‘Whole new world’ was beautiful. Mike Stockley did a great performance as Emmett the white-haired scientist, show casing his versatility and reliability on stage. Even when he dropped his American accent at one point, he quickly recovered and made a joke out of it. Well done. Briony Rimmer played the very humorous Annie, her comedy timing was spot on, including her off key singing. Briony rose to the part, she was fully committed and gave it her all, a very watchable actress. Time cop Katie Wilkinson kept the trio in check as they time travelled and took part in the Thriller dance set which was memorising. Stand out performance from Liz Hobin as Riff Raff, she stole the Time slip scene, brilliant. Hilarious cameo form Ken Seed as Freddie. Phil Smith was laid back with a rich mellow voice. I would have liked him in costume/hat to take the performance up a notch. Dean Wallace gave an assured performance as a lumberjack and his rendition of ‘Always look on the bright side’ went down really well. Sylvia Williams did a stellar performance as ‘Mama’ and ‘This is me’. Fabulous. James Miley was very impressive with ‘Stars’ and used his voice well. Some early powerful singers would have benefitted from a radio mic as the music did drown the sound at times.

For each scene (39 in total) we were treated to a different backdrop, whilst the TARDIS remained on set. The recently purchased projector enabled this to happen and the creative team of John and Steven Worrall-McBride did a astonishing job with high impact stage backdrops creating a stunning visual that enhanced the whole production and allowed seamless continuity. Add to this the lighting, music and sound provided by John Tipping, a very impressive task with all those numbers and scenes, he was having a very busy night, once again a consistent performance.

Rob Daniels also had the onerous task of Stage Manager, ensuring each act was on and off stage on time. Knowing how little back stage space there is, he did an incredible job. He was also on stage as Barnum and introduced the Greatest show, great voice and excellent costume. Well done. Christina Rose and Jenny Ashby, had the huge responsibility of choreographing the dance numbers of which too many to mention. All the routines were researched and plotted. They both danced and sang with such grace and emotion and used their ability to bring out the best in the dancers, many of whom had never danced before, all did incredible. Stand out performance for, ‘All that Jazz’, ‘Can Can’, ‘Thriller’, ‘Time warp’ and ‘Be our Guest’, which was so slick and funny, excellent. With over 21 actors on stage and various costumes changes, hats off to Val at ‘All dressed up” for providing the amazing costumes, what a huge effort.

Overall a very entertaining night, a unique extravaganza. It was very enjoyable to watch the whole company perform confidently on stage with such seamless timing. Primarily, all were having so much fun and enjoying it. Which was delightful to watch. Well done!

Thank you.

Maureen Nickson