UMMTS — the University of Manchester Musical Theatre Society — are perhaps best known for their main shows. They put on three per year, with months of intensive rehearsals and beautiful production design, and musicals such as last year’s Into the Woods or the recent Rocky Horror Show and Next to Normal never fail to be immaculate, impressive performances of scale and genuine quality.
And yet, there remains arguably no better showcase for the society’s sheer talent in vocals and characterisation than their biannual concerts, where the large number of performers and consistently excellent setlists allow for each actor to show off their skill individually. From Page to Stage, directed by Bill Burrows and produced by Rosie Palmer-Barnes, is no exception: a dazzling kaleidoscope of time periods, genres, and tones, the songs are united by the running theme of being lifted from musicals based (however loosely) on books.
The bar is set right from the beginning, as Aila Macnaughtan-Clark takes on the mantle of Aaron Burr and rattles off the opening rap lines of “The Schuyler Sisters” from Hamilton. Sarah Hulstine, Louise Hooper, and Hazel Chan provide soaring harmonies as the titular Angelica, Eliza, and Peggy, and the cast of only four is able to perfectly convey the bustling New York City atmosphere.
This song, and the succeeding high-energy group numbers peppered throughout the concert, are aided by choreography that perfectly complements the fantastic vocal skill on display. Mean Girls’s “Sexy” is the show’s comedic high point, as Katie Sutton wonderfully bounces between endearing and airheaded as Karen while backed up with some impressive movement from Millie Hampson-May and Kathryn Whetter.
Another comedic standout comes earlier in the show, as Hamilton is revisited just two songs after the opening. Shea Reilly slips perfectly into the role of George III in “You’ll Be Back”, and even gets the audience singing along with the famous ending refrain.
Shea Reilly and Aila Macnaughtan-Clark return for the first song of Act 2 to deliver a heartfelt rendition of “My Green Light” from the recent Great Gatsby musical, a show that I must admit I had very little knowledge of prior to this concert. The setlist is truly impressive in its variety: newer songs, such as “Quiet” from 2011’s Matilda (performed achingly believably by Nia Richards), are sung mere minutes after numbers from enduring classics, like “If I Were a Bell” from Guys and Dolls (Kathryn Whetter).
There is considerable scope in the songs’ comparative obscurity, too: there are popular fan favourites such as, well, “Popular” from Wicked, with Scarlett Bartman, an alumnus of last year’s Villains concert, bringing an infectiously positive energy to Glinda’s ode to the makeover montage. But there are also songs from shows that I, and I assume most others in the audience, were not especially familiar with. Andrew Lippa’s The Wild Party, for instance, gets two entries in the setlist.
The first is “What Is It About Her”, a throaty rock ballad about the perverse love felt by Burrs (Millie Hampson-May) for Queenie (Liv Jeffery); the second is the slower, altogether more eerie “Poor Child”, each of its four contrasting parts sung beautifully by Jamie Marriott, Scarlett Bartman, Hope Briggs and Larkin Armstrong.
There are gay anthems (“I Am What I Am” from La Cage aux Folles, performed by a triumphant Larkin Armstrong) and there are intense clashes (“The Confrontation” from Les Miserables, with the impressive baritone voices of Samuel Murray and Noah Wessel), but I would be remiss not to draw particular attention to two of my personal favourite musical theatre songs being delivered exceptionally here.
“Michael in the Bathroom” from Be More Chill, the universally-relatable classic about being too scared and self-hating to socialise at a party, is done justice by an incredibly emotional performance from Jamie Marriott. Meanwhile, immediately afterwards the brilliant Rachel Wheatley gives a West End-worthy rendition of “No One Else” from Natasha, Pierre & the Great Comet of 1812, in my opinion one of the most powerful love ballads ever written.
As “Bend and Snap” from Legally Blonde fades out, and Hope Briggs, Sarah Hulstine, Hazel Chan, and Liv Jeffery join the rest of the cast to take their final bows, another UMMTS concert comes to a close in style.
