"Gedling's Got Talent"
Bonington Theatre. Arnold.
Well, I must have done an OK job last year as one of the judges for Gedling's Got Talent because they asked me back again this year to judge another set of acts. Don't let anyone tell you that it's easy to be a judge in a talent contest; how do you deem that a singer is better than an instrumentalist or a dancer, as there are a different set of talents and traits for each genre of entertainment.
Myself and judges Loreto Murray (Voice Coach/Lecturer in Voice/Actor/Theatre Practitioner), Georgina Saunders (Founder of Next Door Dance Company and Freelance Dance Teacher/Artist/Performer) and Andy Dawson (Inspire Youth Arts Manager (Retired)) witnessed twenty talented, and very different acts, which is why dwindling twenty down to just four winners was so difficult, but great fun.
Let's go through the acts......
1. Free Roam are a four piece band, Gabe, Ben, Dexter and Sam (I hope that I managed to hear those names correctly) kicked the evening off in fine form, and right up my street. They came on dressed as clowns; the four fifteen year olds playing drums, bass and two lead guitars and played a brilliant version of the Arctic Monkeys' song "Florescent Adolescent". I especially focused on the twangy guitar sound as well as the confident lead vocals.
2. Lily O'Toole was in the 12 and under category and sang the Rolf Harris song "I've Lost My Mummy". Nice characterisation and a relevant costume which was pink and glittery.
3. AJ School Of Dance (Junior) from Ravenshead performed "A Place Where Love Goes". Eleven girls and one boy, aged between ten and fifteen, all dressed in eye catching purple and silver costumes.
4. Maryann Townsend is an eleven year old singer who sang Olivia Rodrigo's "Wondering". We were told before hand that Maryann was suffering with a bit of a sore throat, and there were a couple of times only that this showed in her performance, but for me it actually provided a really nice raspy edge. Was not a big fan of the song, but I liked Maryann's version of it.
5. Take 5 School Of Dancing (Inter) danced to a dreamy stripped back version of Rozalla's "Everybody's Free". Good musicality and their ribbon work and blue costumes all matched the video backdrop of being in the sky with the clouds.
6. Sienna Holmes is a seven year old singer who performed "How Far I'll Go" from "Moana". You could see that Sienna was a bit nervous to start with - let's face it I'd have been surprised if she wasn't being only seven! But as the performance built up, so did her confidence.
7. Emma Price and Evelyn Parker performed a comedy duet to "Anything You Can Do" from the musical "Calamity Jane". These two have real chemistry, but I felt that having to act and dance while holding hand held mics impeded the performance. This pair though have bags of attitude and comic timing, but while Emma and Evelyn are going to be great in musical theatre, I also felt that the song choice was not quite right for them.
8. Kennedy Mason is an eleven year old young lady who gave us her version of Gnarls Barkeley's big hit "Crazy", completely stripped down and very chilled.
9. Tyen Tailor-Bird, who last year gave us a very funny double act performance with his brother Romeon, is back solo and performing "I Just Can't Wait To Be King" from "The Lion King". For me this was a perfect and age appropriate choice for this ten year old. Full of character, a wonderful costume and make up and showed off his gymnastic skills as part of his lion cub persona. He even continued his performance when the lights disappeared near the end of his performance.
10. Emmy Rose is a twelve year old singer who took on Keane's "Somewhere Only We Know". Imagine Billie Eilish covering Keane and this could be the result.
11. Closing the first half are The Academy Dance School who gave a gorgeous ballet performance of a piece called "La La Land". All nineteen dancers radiated dressed in sunshine yellow costumes that added to the warmth inside Bonington Theatre.
12. Sebby Caulton is a twelve year old violinist, who was accompanied on keyboards by Nadia Hinson (again apologies if Nadia's name was misheard by myself). I love the sound of classical violin and Sebby, who is a member of the Nottingham Youth Orchestra, played a piece called "Elfentanz" by Florence B Price. A clever choice as it's not one that most people will know and there were a couple of pauses in the work, which the audience took opportunity to applaud, meaning that Sebby received three rounds of applause! It was also nice to see this smartly dressed young man acknowledge Nadia at the end.
13. Salvatore comes from Sardinia and has been in the UK since 2010 and is part of a band called the Zenith Collective Covers Band. We were treated to another lively piece of classical music by Salvatore, this time on the piano, called Libertango, which I did know. This is a piece that sounds so good on a grand piano, so the impact of the piece was lessened played on the small piano that was on stage, in my opinion, but a really good solid performance no less.
14. AJ School Of Dance (Senior) was an interesting dance act as they told the story of the Cluedo board in dance, complete with all the usual suspects, instantly recognisable by their costumes. This group of 14 - 17 year olds danced to piece called "The Last Clue" choreographed by Alice Marshall. A clever use of video backdrop, which at times had me paying more attention to the backdrop than the choreography and dancers on stage.
15. Michael Franklin performed "Why God, Why" from the musical "Miss Saigon". I love this song from this musical but, even though it's one of Michael's favourite musical theatre songs, I didn't think the song was right for him, especially knowing where the song comes in the musical, it didn't seem an appropriate choice for such a young man. That said, I love Michael's voice and that note near the end made me tingle, and I love the control that he has over his vocals. I remember him from last year when he sang "On My Own" from "Les Miserables".
16. Ash Byrne sang another musical theatre classic, this time from the musical "Hamilton" called "You'll Be Back". Complete with crown and sceptre, they had given thought to their appearance. despite seeing a few nerves at the start, they got the audience "la la la-ing" along at the relevant parts.
17. The Academy Dance School danced to a piece choreographed by Sam Riley, called "Dead In The Water". Loved their black to white fade costumes which added even more class to their hypnotic and very technical performance.
18. Poppy Willow treated us to another modern musical theatre classic, this time "Heart Of Stone" from the musical "Six". I don't know why but Poppy sounded just a little like Ellie Goulding. Technically, I felt that this song choice was just a little too big for Poppy, at this moment, but I did like her vocal tone.
19. Hunny Beez are back from last year's show with another folk inspired performance called "How Should I Your True Love Know" which is a melody from Shakespeare's "Hamlet". This performance is very different to any of the other performances on Saturday night, and they do say that variety is the spice of life, don't they?
20. The final performance was from Take 5 School Of Dancing (Senior) from Bulwell who performed a piece called "Hell Hath No Fury" choreographed by Amanda Hart. I loved their Peaky Blinders inspired routine last year, and this year I also loved the routine danced to stripped back versions of "Wicked Game" and "Look What You Made Me Do". This was a very powerful and dark dance which was lit by illuminated red fans which reminded me slightly of something from "Stranger Things" or some TV show similar.
So, after seeing all twenty acts, the judges retired to a cubby hole, down in the depths of Bonington Theatre to decide to whom we should make the winner and the runners up. Not an easy job as I have said but we did all agree, by the end, on the four supremos.
The twelve and under winner was violinist Sebby.
In 3rd place was the four piece band Free Roam.
in 2nd place was Maryanne Townsend.
And in 1st place we voted The Academy Dance Group who performed "Dead In The Water".
The evening was hosted by Rachel Bird, who by the way did a brilliant job.
Danny & Jack were on hand for all backstage duties with Carrie Bird.
Peter Hodgkinson (who I didn't get time to say a proper "hello" to) sorted all the tech with Finlay & Daniel operating the lighting and sound.
And last, but by no means least, Deputy Mayor and Councillor, Kyle Robinson-Payne awarded the prizes to the worthy winners.
Another brilliant night of talent spotting was over, and I look forward to seeing these four winners go on to great things in 2025.
Thanks to Carrie Bird for asking me back.
