7:03am Monday 5th January 2009
By Ruth Meech
A NEW venture is starting in Weymouth for youngsters who want to sing.
Janet Stockley, the chairman of the town’s youth musical theatre, WOW is launching the Saturday Sing Thing this month.
It is aimed at X-Factor-inspired teens and pre-teens who love to sing but are not so keen on the idea of joining a dance or theatre school.
Janet explained: “It is an idea I have had for some time. I am aware that not all youngsters want to dance or act and I thought this would be a great thing for them. A lot of youngsters like to sing, but don’t like to get up on stage and perform solos, so hopefully the Sing Thing will give them confidence because they will be singing in a group – and if they have a singing talent, it will allow them to use it.”
Saturday Sing Thing, which starts on Saturday, January 10, will be divided into two hour-long sessions. Members aged between six and 10 will sing from 10.30am to 11.30am, while the group for those aged between 11 and 15 will run from noon to 1pm. The fee is £5 a week.
The sessions will take place in WOW Hall in Park Street, Weymouth, and parents can either stay in the building’s Green Room and watch the lessons on CCTV, or go and do their shopping.
During each session, the singers will get the chance to sing a mix of songs, from jazz and pop to West End and Broadway hits.
They will also be taught the theory of singing, from how to stand properly and use the right muscles.
Janet said: “We will show them how to stand properly and hold themselves, and how to sing not just using their mouths but their whole bodies. They will learn that singing comes from the centre of you, not just the throat.”
The Saturday Sing Thing comes at the end of a frantically busy year for Janet and the young stars at WOW.
2008 started with a compilation show at Weymouth Pavilion, followed by an awe-inspiring, highly-acclaimed al fresco production of Les Miserables at Weymouth’s Nothe Fort. The year was capped by a rambunctious staging of the Broadway version of Pirates Of Penzance, again at the Pavilion Theatre.
Janet said: “It has been a very busy year, but one that has given the youngsters the chance to sing lots of different styles of music, from pop to something more classical to a Gilbert and Sullivan operetta.
“The compilation show is something of a shop window and gives them the chance to show off what they can do best, because some are better at singing than they are at dancing and acting – and the other way round.”
WOW had already presented Les Miserables a year earlier, but decided to give it another airing – this time with new cast members and in the challenging venue of the Nothe Fort above Weymouth Harbour.
The production was a massive success, hampered only by inclement weather.
The year ended with a lively staging of ‘Pirates’.
“You could not have two more contrasting shows, between Les Miserables and Pirates Of Penzance, but it was a really good move because the kids loved it,” said Janet.
“I think they were a bit shocked to start with when I said we would be doing Gilbert and Sullivan, but they soon realised what fun it was going to be and ended up saying they were glad to have done it.”
For further details of Saturday Sing Thing and to enrol, call 01305 784945.
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