Production: ‘Disco Inferno’ by Justin Sepple. Musical arrangements by Brett Foster & Jim Coyle.
Director: David Bowman
Musical Director: Mike Benyon
Choreographer: Fay McWilliams
Assistant Director: Rebecca Sims

Being an SMP ‘veteran’, I was jealous that I was unable to take part in ‘Disco Inferno’. When this show was first pitched to the group, I knew that it had the recipe to be a great success, with a funky list of 70’s songs, a great storyline, and the opportunity to build some great characters, and I can tell you that SMP didn’t dissapoint. By the end of the performance I was glad that I wasn’t in the show as I had the priveledge of being in the audience for what was definately one of SMP’s best productions in recent years.

Being a show that was jam packed with great songs (29 in total) it seems only right to give my first mention to Fay McWilliams for the fabulous Choreography, and Mike Benyon for the spot-on Musical Direction. Some memorable numbers for me were ‘Kissing in the back row of the movies’, ‘Pop Muzik’ and a great Village People mega mix that seemed to come all too naturally to the male cast members. A special mention must go to the band which consisted of John Fossey on guitar, Paul Denham on Bass, Chris Wall on the Drums and Steve Rodgers on the Keys & Guitar. Under Benyon’s supervision, the band made this the Jivin’ funkfest of the year! The band were also beautifully complemented by the ‘dreamgirls-esque’ Fallen Angels. Kudos to the technical crew that provided the performance with a wonderful 70’s feel, especially to Ellie Goss & Fay McWilliams who kitted out the cast with some amazing costumes.

Next ‘Props’ must go to the wonderful direction of Mr David Bowman, with help from assistant director Rebecca Sims. Dave has become accustomed to directing SMP’s pantomimes, so you could forgive him for taking this script and really hamming it up, but he didn’t. Through exploring the themes of vanity, greed and unrequited love, whilst combining them with the energy and humour in the script, he managed to provide the audience with a feast for the senses. Two moments of absolute genius came in the scene for ‘Kissing in the back row of the movies’ where seats from the Millfield Theatre were used to set the stage for a cinema, and also in Scene 5 where a little toilet humour was used to perfection.

Alongside the sterling efforts of the production team, the cast pulled off an awe-inspiring ensemble performance. Some notable performances included Emil Larsen’s Tom, Jack Flash’s geeky friend, although maybe inspired by the popular Sit-Com ‘The IT Crowd’, Larsen made the character his own and left the audience rooting for him to get his first kiss with girlfriend Maggie, played by Lynzey Cooper. The comedy also came from Jamie Nichols’ portrayal of the barman, although a fairly small part in the script, the camp character stole the toilet seen with a wipe of his towel! Some inspired casting came in the form of Luke Clow with a brilliant performance as ‘Heathcliff’ and Jo Martin playing ‘Lady Marmalade’ a part that she was surely born to play! The leads of Jane (Clare O’Mahony) and Jack (Warren McWilliams) were played to a proffesional standard with McWilliams seeming only to be offstage during the interval, and treating us to brilliant performances of ‘If you leave me now’ and ‘Could it be Magic’. A tear-jerker was provided by Marian Lynch whose rendition of ‘I will survive’ left me with a lump in my throat. Finally Cem Dervish also gave us a brilliant Jimmy Saville, and I found myself repeating ‘The music of Shawadywady’ throughout the next day.

‘Disco Inferno’ looked like a professional production, sounded like a professional production, and left me more fulfilled than when I have seen something on the West End. It is companies like SMP that get us through the hard times, and remind us how to smile. This musical had me laughing from start until finish, tapping my foot in every number and wishing that it didnt have to end. Congratulations and thank you to all involved for a truly exceptional evening.

To find out more about SMP please visit www.smptheatre.co.uk where you can find out more about future productions, buy tickets, and see photos of previous productions.

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