The Wellington Footlights Society is ten years old and having s celebratory bash at a theatre they’ve made their own (having earlier utilised both Whitireia and Gryphon theatres). Up behind the somewhat anonymous commercial façade in Dixon Street, Footlights have expertly chugged through musical after musical. It has built up a company of performers with a firm devotion to the challenging genre of stage musicals – along with a gobsmackingly good nine-piece accompanying orchestra. 

Audiences have been much taken with Footlights’ ability to absorb musical offerings from a wide range of sources using both on and off-Broadway pieces. It is in the latter cohort that so many musical jewels a have been scattered without really making themselves know to the wider public.

Footlights is delightfully adept at unearthing them and giving them their well-deserved day in the sun. The output and performance standards since 2014 have been, quite simply, stellar. They have often far outshone the ‘professional’ touring companies for audience reaction because of the warmth, sincerity and joy emanating from what they do. In short, they overtly love their work.

That transfers into the collective style of their celebratory show to which the Wellington community is heartily welcomed. This special show is in two halves with each having around a dozen songs from a pleasing array of past productions. Many of the numbers chosen are there to give the 20-strong cast the chance to be rip-roaring chorus members who then step up as principals before hopping back into the chorus – an army without officers. Everyone is wearing their party hat along with a Venetian revels mask for the night and mainly having a nostalgic time of their lives.

So we get ‘Quintet’ form West Side Story running cheek by jowl with an Oliver-like song and dance rendition of ‘Always Look on the Bright side of Life’ fromMonty Python’s Spamalot (originally written for Life of Brian). Gender gets bent in a soaring version of ‘Show Me’ from My Fair Lady while an especially heart-shredding version of ‘I Know Him so Well’ (from Chess) gets a smooth and pleasant airing.

In between the big fellas though we rediscover those non less dazzling ’lesser’ lights. Shows such as s If/Then, Taking the Millennium and Speakeasy (1920) with that Gershwin immortal ballad ‘Someone to Watch Over Me.’ There is startling dramatic depth in mouth-challenging The 25^th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee. Flatline with Two Sugars gives off some acerbic but clever fumes and ‘Lost in the Woods’ from Silver Linings (film songs compilation) is no less than a little fizzer.

Attempting to be a party pooper, this reviewer is bound to point out that the show may not resonate with everyone. That’s because musicals don’t always yield to a greatest-hits format. Much of their magical appeal lies in the variety of haunting tones, plot expectations and character contrasts al la Carousel. Songs are allies of the plot and the changing yearnings that surround that aspect.The ’Tonight Quintet’ (West Side Story) for example is the product of boiling tensions between the Sharks and the Jets. It’s hard to just pluck it out of the air. Taking such a piece in isolation relies on the audience’s wider knowledge of musical theatre rather than the song emerging from the mise en scene.

Piling up the big powerful numbers this way is a bit like serving several giant scale desserts in a row and skipping the canapes and salads. It’s a lot of high-powered mass stomping and arm thrusting to take in. That said, and being self-contradictory, I especially enjoyed the barnstorming ‘La Vie Boheme’ from Rent. Ditto, ‘Being Alive’ form Company and ‘Pure Imagination’ from the Silver Linings tribute to film music.

The latter was especially impressive as a generator of atmosphere. It’s maybe better known as the remarkably effective scene setter from the film Willie Wonka and the Chocolate Factory. Having been in a few musicals myself I quickly recognised the ecstasy that cast members feel when they first work a high-octane song and say “we can do this”. It was that truly special moment of sheer delight here as the cast discover and share a uniquely evocative tune – seemingly unaccompanied in that the all-cast vocal simply soared from the stage.

This is Footlights’ party and who but a churl would deny them this review of their massive work over a decade? Their happiness is our happiness and it is considerable; made all the more enjoyable through the efforts of that nine-piece band I mentioned earlier. Rather than having them in that invisible upstairs eyrie the director has plonked them on almost half of the stage so that their polished and tuneful playing might be better appreciated. (One hopes).

There is a real buzz in not only hearing music but also seeing the magic of it being whizzed up from anonymous black dots on white pages. Pit orchestras are a very special thing. They have their own feel and are often an essential extension of the actors’ personae. They determine the tonal palate of so many musicals – be that rough, smooth or somewhere in between. I don’t think I’ve ever seen and heard in New Zealand a better or more unified group of musos than these.

Wellington Footlights have given their all through wondrously crafted musical theatre in the Capital for a full decade. This show is but a tiny fraction of what they have wrought in that time. Audiences for this Celebration will either see again what they have enjoyed before or will have the chance to become card-carrying devotees of one of this country’s very best musical troupes. If the latter, the time to let curiosity get the better of you runs out on 23 November. 

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