Wednesday 1 January 2020

Happy New Year!

Welcome to 2020, and to the fortieth anniversary of The Wight Strollers in their current form...and we're going to be celebrating in style!

The celebrations begin with our annual February Half Term pantomime at Medina Theatre.

This year, our chosen fairytale is Sleeping Beauty and it has again been co-written by Sarah Scotcher and by yours truly, tailored to the cast and crew and with all the traditional elements of a family pantomime with plenty of jokes and musical numbers and slapstick to make all ages laugh.

The set and costumes have all been designed and made in-house by Geraldine Tulloch (also our chairperson!) and her wonderful team, the music has been arranged by our supremely talented MD, Kim Ball, and the choreography is in the expert hands of Cheryl and Izzi Rudd.

The cast is filled with Strollers faces new and old, with the principal character list boasting several members taking their very first speaking roles within the company...and we just know they're all going to smash it!

Tickets are on sale now from Medina Theatre either by phone on 01983 823884 or online, or in person at the Box Office - don't miss out, and come along to what is going to be a truly spectacular show, all in aid of Island charities - more about them later.

We will then be entering the IW Music, Dance and Drama Festival in the Senior Musical Theatre Vocal Group Class - wish us luck!



Following this, we will be staging The Wind in the Willows this summer, the musical that took London by storm a couple of years ago. Directing this will be Andy Ball, who many of our loyal supporters will remember as 'Bob' in Priscilla: Queen of the Desert - The Musical in 2018 or perhaps even as Rancid in Jack and the Beanstalk in 2017....or maybe even as that squeaky-shod guard in Robin Hood and the Babes in the Wood in 2019 - I wonder if he ever did get that shoe fixed?

The Wind in the Willows is the tale of Toad of Toad Hall and his compatriots, Ratty and Mole, and it's based on the beloved children's classic by Kenneth Graham. The music is gorgeous, and we can't wait to share our production of this exciting show with you all.

Tickets will be on sale from February 14th - so watch this space!

To finish our fortieth 'season', we will once again be parading the streets of the Island as part of the summer carnival season. The theme will top secret until our first outing - as always - so you'll just have to wait and see. Suffice to say, it's going to be colourful, hilarious and great fun, and we can't wait to see you all there.

The benefit of producing two shows in a year is that we can support double the number of Island charities, and we have decided on these, too - an announcement will be forthcoming soon, so keep your eyes peeled.

That's about it from us for an update for now...so hop on over to the Medina Theatre website and book those tickets for Sleeping Beauty! Go on...you know you want to!