A NINETIETH anniversary is indeed something to be celebrated and an appreciative audience at the Haymarket recently helped the Basingstoke Amateur Operatic Society (BAOS) mark the occasion in style with its latest production Simply BAOS.

Martin Palmer provided an excellent narrative of the society's history from its earliest days when the Thornycroft Amateur Operatic Society, as it was then known, staged HMS Pinafore in February 1922. Thornycroft was a major motor manufacturing plant in Basingstoke and the society came into being when a group of workers banded together to form an acting and singing group. Since then the society has put on well over 100 productions and, as Martin gratefully acknowledged, “Basingstoke kept coming back to watch.”

Act One reflected that, until 1966, the society staged annual Gilbert & Sullivan operettas. Foot-tapping songs were well-performed, though it was surprising there was nothing from HMS Pinafore, that first-ever production. Then the mood changed with numbers from musicals Show Boat, Anything Goes and Kiss Me Kate, with a rousing Oklahoma, led by David Izzo, bringing down the curtain on the first act.

In the second act, the company was fully into its stride, relaxing and enjoying themselves and the audience, which included the Mayor and Mayoress of Basingstoke, Councillor Martin Biermann and his wife, Chansopha, responded accordingly. Guys and Dolls' Sit Down You're Rocking the Boat, with David Scanlan, was a good choice of curtain-raiser for Act Two, while a well-staged Flash Bang Wallop from Half a Sixpence with Robin Walton and the finale's You'll Never Walk Alone from Carousel were guaranteed audience pleasers.

To the delight of many, David Izzo repeated his show-stopping interpretation of Fagin's Reviewing the Situation from BAOS's recent production of Oliver.
The company's strength in depth and range of talent was evident from the number able to take on solo parts. There was lots of humour, too, plus some fine acting across the whole company. Costumes and set were simplicity itself - in keeping with the 'Simply BAOS' theme.

This was all about the music - and credit is due to musical director Simon Eastwood who, with assistant musical director Anne Bell, ensured the band served the singers well. Co-directors Caroline Price and Alexandra Stores can be proud of the end result - an evening of celebration for 90 years of quality musical entertainment.
 

However, the evening was not just a nostalgic peep back into the past. Also on stage were members of Limelight, BAOS's youth group, whose talent, vitality and youthful enthusiasm lit up the stage. From a hauntingly beautiful interpretation of Keep the Home Fires Burning - all the more poignant sung by young people who, thankfully, have known nothing of war - to a spirited rendition of Hairspray's You Can't Stop the Beat, the Limelighters, under the guidance of the charismatic Stephanie Webb, showed that BAOS, even after 90 years, has absolutely nothing to fear for the future.

Jaqui Ball