Saturday 16 April 2016

Merry Widow Launch Night




While we still bask in the glow of our recent successful production of Princess Ida, it's now time to launch our next production, The Merry Widow, which we will be presenting from the 5th - 8th October, 2016 at The Queen Mother Theatre in Hitchin. We welcome Richard Syms (Into The Woods) back as our Director and welcome a new Musical Director Jane Stott for this much anticipated production.

Our show launch date is Tuesday the 19th of April and we hope to welcome as many of you as possible to meet Richard and Jane and to sing through some of the beautiful music in this operetta. There'll be full details of auditions provided on this evening as well as some overall guidance on the vision Richard and Jane have for our treatment of this show.

Director Richard Syms
Musical Director Jane Stott

If you have thought about joining PBGS this will be a wonderful opportunity to come along and meet the company. We rehearse from 7.45 at Streatley Village Hall just north of Luton. You will find location details on our Contact Us page here. You are welcome to just come and introduce yourself, or ring us on 07956 678720 for information. We would love to see you. And if you are not a performer but love all the behind-the-scenes stuff we always need help with costumes, scenery and all the backstage work which needs doing!

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Thursday 14 April 2016

A message from our Presidents


A lovely message from our Presidents, Anne and Tony Critchley
We wanted to thank you all for your efforts with “Princess Ida”. We felt that it was the most entertaining version we have seen, with some innovative ideas to keep the interest going. The costumes and wigs were fine – even with the problems we heard about later! The singing was with enthusiasm and excellent diction which we felt essential for telling the story. One of the audience said to me “We come to see PBGS because they do not use microphones and you can hear every word that they sing”. Praise indeed!! So carry on the good work! We look forward to the next show and hope you think all the hard work is worth it – we did and gained such pleasure from it and felt privileged in watching it too.

The acting showed good reactions all the way through which is often lacking, particularly with the chorus work, so very well done to everyone.

Very best wishes to you all,

Anne & Tony



Photos © Stephen Hoath

Sunday 10 April 2016

A big thank you to our audiences!


A big thank you to our audiences for coming in droves to the Queen Mother Theatre this week to see our production of Princess Ida - your support and enjoyment meant that we had a wonderful time and it was great to see all our hard work being so appreciated. A big thank you too to Alison Gibbs who gave us such a fantastic production and to Margaret Johnson for ensuring we were all at our musical best. I think you'll all agree that we managed to climb those 'Empyrean Heights' that Ida thought so highly of!


Our next production will be Franz Lehar's sparkling The Merry Widow, a show that we are very much looking forward to presenting to you on the 5th - 8th October at the Queen Mother Theatre. Full of gorgeous music, wit and dancing, The Merry Widow is enduringly popular. If you would like to join PBGS on stage or behind the scenes for this production we would love to hear from you! PBGS always welcomes new members and you can contact us by ringing 07956 678720 or emailing us at info@pbgs.org.


Photos © Stephen Hoath

Wednesday 6 April 2016

Our name's up in lights!


There is still time to buy tickets for tonight's opening performance of Princess Ida. Only £12 for an evening of Women's Lib, sword fights, monkeys (!) and general Medieval Mayhem! Fabulous music, gorgeous costumes and the best of Gilbert's razor sharp wit.

Queen Mother Theatre, Hitchin 6th-9th April.