Opening Night of Strictly Musicals by Darlington Operatic Society

After months of prep, weeks of intensive rehearsals, a few bruises and a couple of dropped flags, Darlington Operatic Society's Autumn spectacular, Strictly Musicals, opens tonight and I've not been this excited for a show to start.

Bringing the hits of Broadway & The West End from over 50 years of musical theatre, the North East's premier amateur theatre company are guaranteed to receive a huge reception - lets face it, with almost 100 people involved in one way or another, there's a lot of family & friends to come and support the 1st night but what is testament to the pedigree of this group is the number of tickets sold to those from outside the area.  

Sister amateur companies, Darlo ex-pats, stars from professional touring companies and repeat visitors who happened on previous shows almost by chance are all coming to see one of the 10 shows.  With local & national radio, BBC & Sky TV and of course the social media networks all buzzing about this 2 hour extravaganza there is no shortage of focus and rightly so.  With songs & dance from Chicago, Blood Brothers, Evita, Les Mis, Phantom, Miss Saigon, Wicked, Carousel, Disney's Lion King, Hairspray, Matilda plus many more, it's like the best ever pick 'n' mix musical.

Director and choreographer Joanne Hand has created a celebration to musical theatre paying homage to the great and the good whilst retaining an individuality which will leave the audience in awe at how you can pack so much action into a small, intimate stage.  Add to this some simply stunning vocal performances and the 10 piece live orchestra and everything is in place for the water cooler moment of the year - just make sure you're the one talking about it at work the next day.

There are still some tickets left - see the website www.darlingtonoperaticsociety.org.uk for full details and come have the best evening of your year so far.