Ensembles that stir and ballads that thrill

“WITCHFINDER”, George Lawton Hall, Mossley

WE’VE been here before, with Mossley AODS on trial for, if not its life, then at least its reputation.

This is by no means the first original musical show the company has presented, but few in the future are likely to match the depth of this remarkable tale of 17th century Pendle, the Court of King James and the people in the middle of a political dogfight with nods towards today.

I know what you’re thinking: making a musical from this subject is a bit like turning Miller’s Crucible into a Broadway show.

But the Mossley company is far from pushing its resources trying to win an audience for such an uncompromising subject.

We know the group can rise to the occasion, with top-class young performers and singers, a hard-working production team, strong directors (in this case veteran Nigel Marland), a 16-piece orchestra under MD Paul Firth and excellent technicals.

We take as read the superb performance of Steve Maxfield as the black-hearted magistrate out for glory, the feistiness of Sarah Thewlis as romantic lead Catherine, the blazing morality of Gary Jones as the Captain, Catherine’s beau and the sweet voice of Jo Farrow, whose big song is only the evening’s second and sets the bar extraordinarily high for what follows. The rest of the large cast sets a similarly high standard, especially John Hankin as the innkeeper.

But book and lyric writer Martin Roche and composer Ian Crabtree are another matter: the evening’s success or failure rests largely on their shoulders.

Luckily, Roche is no fool about musicals, and Crabtree follows the Boublil and Schonberg “rock aria” model and succeeds remarkably, creating a genuine, full-blown show that is full-formed, with superb orchestrations.

Almost every tune is a winner, from big ensemble songs that stir to ballads that romanticise. There’s even the next England sports squad anthem, “England is my Home”.

And while the evening is by no means perfect — it is too long, far too wordy, spreads its story among too many characters and has scenes and songs that could fairly easily be cut — that’s the worst you can say.

This is, after all, the first performance of that most difficult of enterprises, a new musical; not one with the benefit of half a dozen rewrites.

I’d have picked an easier subject, but the show is easily acquitted of the charge of reaching too high.