Musselburgh Amateur Musical Association proudly presents the East Lothian premiere of the recently revised edition of heart-warming, rags to riches musical, Half a Sixpence.
The show will run from Monday 2nd to Saturday 7th April at 7.30pm at Brunton Theatre.
Half a Sixpence, set in Folkestone around the turn of the twentieth century, tells the charming story of Arthur Kipps, an orphan who is separated from his childhood sweetheart Ann, also an orphan, at the age of twelve. Kipps moves to live and work with several apprentices and friends who all work for the cruel draper, Mr. Shalford. After meeting eccentric actor/playwright, Chitterlow, Kipps learns that he is inheriting a fortune. He then attempts to join the upper class and gets engaged to the wealthy Helen Walsingham despite her snooty mother’s best attempts to get in the way. Soon, though, Kipps realises that Helen is perhaps not his true love and that money can’t, in fact, buy you happiness.
The revised edition of this toe-tapping musical by David Heneker and Beverley Cross which is based on the novel Kipps by HG Wells, contains new songs and lyrics by Warner Brown.
Show-stopping numbers include A normal working day, Money to Burn, If the Rain’s got to Fall, Flash Bang Wallop! and of course Half a Sixpence.
M.A.M.A have been performing musicals to local audiences for over sixty years and have been in rehearsals for this years show since late last year. It all began for the company in the autumn of 1950, when a few members of staff at the Musselburgh and Fisherrow Cooperative Society, along with some friends, got together to discuss the possibility of forming a company to perform a musical stage show, a popular and expanding form of entertainment at the time. Their successful meeting led to the decision to recruit interested local residents and start rehearsals for ‘A Country Girl’, which they planned to perform in the spring of 1951. And so the Cooperative Musical Association came into being. The name was later changed to Musselburgh Amateur Musical Association. ‘A Country Girl’ duly opened at the Stoneyhill Community Centre in April 1951. The show was an immediate success and plans were soon made to establish a musical production as an annual event.
Now in their 61st year, M.A.M.A continues to go from strength to strength with over 70 acting and non-acting members, with ages ranging from 8 to 80+. This is the first time the company has performed Half a Sixpence and the cast are of course relishing the challenge of taking on something completely new.
Member Ali Macdougall says, “There is a real buzz amongst the company. We are really looking forward to show week and putting on this well-loved British Musical. There are lots of fun numbers that we can really go to town with. There has been many challenges, as there always is with any new show, especially the grasp of the “cockney” accent amongst other things. It really is a fun filled family show with lots of laughs and catchy numbers”
This year’s production stars many of M.A.M.A.’s familiar faces as well as some new local talent and is sure to leave you tapping your feet in the aisles and humming the tunes all the way home. A show for all the family, that has something for everyone!
Tickets are priced at £11 Mon – Thu, £12 Fri & Sat and concessions are available Mon & Tue at £9. Tickets are available by calling the Theatre Box Office on 0131 665 2240 or M.A.M.A’s Business Manager Gordon Brown on 0131 665 3024.
