Beaumont School Music Department

THE PLAY THAT WENT WRONG Actor:-           “Has anyone seen a dog, It's around here somewhere??” “What's your name??” Amelie:-         “My name is Amelie” Actor:-            “What like the film??” Amelie:-         “Yes” Actor:-            “Can you bark like a dog??” Amelie:-        “RUFF” Actor:-           ”Now can you growl ‎like a dog??” Amelie:-        “GRRRRR” Actor:-            “Here, have some HAM that I found in the fridge” (as she passes me a piece of paper with HAM written on it) From the moment my family and I got to our seats 20 minutes before the performance was sup...

On the 28 th of April, I went to see the St Albans Operatic Society’s production of Lionel Bart’s “Oliver!” the musical with my family. What I experienced as an audience member and what I liked best: I believed it to be an entertaining musical starring some very gifted singers such as the woman playing “Widow Corney”. My favourite song would probably have been “Consider Yourself” sung primarily by “the Artful Dodger”. This was a very uplifting song at a major turning point in the play underprivileged boys where Oliver initially was living. This reflected the remnants of enthusiasm still remained in the less fortunate boys, as if it was reluctantly waiting to be unleashed. This is then, however, put to an all the more spirit-dampening end with the next song “Oliver!” which could perhaps have been relatable to certain members of the audience. It was also surprising to see that boys approximately my age sang, sang well, in a semi-professional play with a whole song to themselves. ...

We always love to hear from our alumni, and even better when our students end up in the same choirs as them.  At Easter, Ollie Davies, Alice Webster, and Sidney Brass sang in the National Youth Choirs with Emma Doherty (class of 2013).  Ollie then went up to Magdalen College, Oxford for a choral scholar open day, where he bumped into alumni Will Pate (class of 2010).   It was lovely to receive messages from Emma and Will, each with a cheeky photo, and both ensuring that the members of our department were being well looked after.  The Beaumont Music Family continues beyond Beaumont.

As part of the Arts Award, our students have to go and see something, review it, and then share it.  First one to go public is Kaja Bruce.  Please read her review, and if you have any questions or messages for her, please tweet @BeaumontMusic and we will pass them on. Thanks for reading! On the evening of the 16th of May, my family and I went to see Rojas and Rodriguez’ Titanium in the Peacock. The show was a fusion of urban dance and flamenco with live music especially written and researched to fit the different dance styles. The music was a typical flamenco music (the singer was a professional) but it had a hip-hop beat. The idea of the merging of the two different styles came from The Ballet Nuevo Espanol’s artistic directors, Angel Rojas and Carlos Rodriguez; they felt that these two dance styles have more in common than you might think: both were born on the streets, both show raw attitude and both have had a history of dance battles. Titaniu...