At least one member of the audience had come a distance to see a Walmsley Church Operatic Society show at the Egerton schoolroom, Bolton, because he had "read so often in the Evening News how good the society was". And this, of course, had to be the night when it wasn't at its best.
Part of the trouble was that the orchestra seemed to be unbalanced. It certainly created problems for new leading lady Joyce Foster. She has a pure soprano voice of great promise, but not robust enough to cope with the instrumental barrage that occasionally assailed her.
One singer who did have the power and resilience to cope was Eddie Williams as Abe. It has always seemed to me that this part was interposed into the show for the sole purpose of introducing catchy songs like Cotton Tail, and this player justified the means with his notable singing.
Ernest Pollitt gave us a splendid example of character acting as Dvorak. It was short only of a touch of the fine conceit of the part. Arnold Knowles (Joe) and Glenys Poole (Milli) teamed up well in comedy and Alan Lee was suitably loutish as the saloon keeper, but the rest of the principals either overplayed or underplayed, mostly the latter. David Tyldsley produced.
