The Wonderful World of Captain Beaky and His Band (not forgetting Hissing Sid!)
Royal Albert Hall, December 2011
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For one night only, this UNICEF charity gala brought to life the poetry of Jeremy Lloyd that thirty years ago captured the imagination of young and old alike in the Apollo Victoria Theatre. Such is the enduring and endearing success of Captain Beaky that this sold out show, backed by the West End Chorus, the English National Ballet and an orchestra rekindled that same magic for one more night. The show also had the support of an array of stars of stage, screen and television to recite and sing some of the revered prose over the orchestrations from Jim Parker. These included Sir Roger Moore (a goodwill ambassador for UNICEF), Joanna Lumley, Vanessa Redgrave, Alan Titchmarsh, Duncan Bannatyne and Jeremy Lloyd himself.
The prestige of the event itself demanded that the mix of orchestra, spoken word, singing and playback had to be crystal clear and faultless. With only one technical rehearsal in the morning, and no margin for error, the event was mixed by the ever experienced Phil Wright. Using a trusty DiGiCo D1 and the permanently installed Meyer Sound M2D/ M1D system, Sound By Design was once again able to deliver a faultless show. On hand on monitors was Stephen Hughes, providing orchestral foldback, as well as performance area monitoring and spot monitoring for the three speech positions and conductor. Again armed with a DiGiCo D1 and a combination of Meyer Sound M1Ds, UPA-1Ps and EM Acoustics M-12S’s, it meant that the performers did not have to worry about hearing themselves during the one technical rehearsal they’d have before the show itself. The success of the show is also due to the hard work of Phill Chapman, Sound By Design’s resources manager, who has tirelessly refined the touring infrastructure over the years, meaning that the two hour time slot to load in and be up and running for rehearsals was never going to be an issue. Indeed, this was another event with Hugh Wooldridge, whom Sound By Design have worked with closely over the years on successive ‘Night of 1000 Voices’ events and, more recently, Brian May and Kerry Ellis’ Anthems Tour. For the hard work of the Sound By Design team, Hugh had this to say: “...thank you for your time, talent and, above all, love.” Ollie Jeffery, Senior Technical Manager at the Royal Albert Hall also commented: "This was a challenging show but as ever Sound By Design dealt with everything thrown at them. With shows that have little rehearsal time, it's crucial all teams work together to achieve the final result. The sound team certainly achieved this and their time and support for this charity event is a testament to the long term relationship the hall has with this company." The highest praise of all could be said to come from Jeremy Lloyd himself. The master storyteller and progenitor of the elegant stories that were the reason for this wonderful event stated that “it was the highlight of my life”. |
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