Each year, Ferndown’s Drama and Music departments embark on a mission to produce and perform an outstanding Christmas production, and on Wednesday night, over 20% of the pupils at the school put on a spectacular show to delight the expectant audience.
The Nightmare before Christmas, Tim Burton’s classic tale, is a story set in Halloween town. The lead, Jack Skellington, the pumpkin king is bored with Halloween and after stumbling upon Christmas Town, decides he can do the job of being ‘Sandy Claws’ and takes over Christmas Eve. He finds out, however that he can’t quite get it right.
The show encompassed so many elements, with steel drums and percussion starting the performance. Jack sung a beautiful solo, then the curtains opened to reveal a stage packed with Halloween ghouls in full glorious costume and makeup! Lurching forwards they sang. There were some wonderful moments; trees processing to the stage, graceful dancers, and a tear jerking rendition of ‘Christmas comes to town’.
The Samba band instilled a carnival atmosphere with their mighty drums and agogo bells. They raised the roof and the audience loved it! Mrs Rice conducted the band, using the whistle and drum and her enthusiasm and love music shone through every beat.
The quality of the acting was superb. The players were confident and sassy, had comedy timing and never missed a line. Considering the performance was over an hour long, this is some feat.
At the end of the performance, Mrs Allen commented on the quality and hard work that went into the production. She also said how evident it was how much the entire cast enjoyed putting on the show, and for me, this was the key ingredient that ensured success and smiles all round.
A huge thank you goes to Mrs Rice, Mrs Barker and Mrs Rogers for putting on a great show! Also a thank you to all those children involved, their parents for supporting them and the Friends of Ferndown Middle School for providing refreshments at the event.
