Toowoomba Choral Society celebrates 20-years of youth theatre
More than 80 young performers have begun rehearsals in preparation for Toowoomba Choral Society’s (TCS) major milestone!
Celebrating their 20th year of Toowoomba Choral Society youth musicals in the region, budding triple-threats will take to the stage on July 10, in the courageous musical, ‘Just So’. Conductor of the youth choir, Vicki Bravery, spoke about her excitement seeing the youth performers get involved over the school holidays and reach their full potential on stage.
“It’s always a challenge to put together a musical in two weeks, but we produce quality shows,” Bravery said.
“In the past two years, we’ve entered the Golden Palm Theatre Awards and have won multiple categories. I’ve seen a great deal of talent over the years and some of our participants have gone on to study musical theatre at prestigious institutions such as the Western Australia Academy of Performing Arts (WAAPA), the Queensland Conservatorium of Music Griffith University and the Victorian College of Arts.”
Based on the famous jungle stories of Rudyard Kipling, ‘Just So’ will feature a colourful array of characters, including the Kolokolo Bird, the Elephant’s Child, The Storyteller, The Elder Magician and jungle animals. The musical tells of the very beginning of time when everything was “Just So”. The storyline depicts Pau Amma the Crab, who started playing with the ocean causing the lands to flood. While most creatures accept their sad fate, Elephant’s Child embarks on a journey to challenge the disobedient crab. Aided by the Eldest Magician, the Kolokolo Bird and many other animals, the Child learns about courage, individuality and friendship.
‘Just So’ is an apt production with great themes of perseverance. The production is incredibly important to Toowoomba Choral Society, whose last production of ‘Disney’s Tarzan’ nearly didn’t go ahead due to COVID-19. It had to be postponed and performed to a restricted audience. As such members of the Society have created a commemorative quilt, which will be raffled later in the year to raise funds for the group.
“Each quilt square reflects one of the musicals we’ve performed in the past 20 years, including ‘Peter Pan’, ‘Tarzan’, ‘The Little Mermaid’, ‘Narnia’ and ‘Chitty Chitty Bang Bang’,” said Bravery.
‘Just So’ performs for two shows at Toowoomba’s Empire Theatre on Saturday, 10 July 2021 at 2:00 PM and 7:00 PM. Bravery, who marks her final year as a show director, said the musical will be great fun with something for everyone to enjoy.
“All of our participants have developed important life skills, such as teamwork and confidence,” said Bravery.
“This is a great musical for all ages.”
For more information about ‘Just So’, please visit the Toowoomba Choral Society’s website.
The main image shows Elephant’s Child (Josh Brown), Storyteller (Claire Tiller), Kolokolo Bird (Harper Lanigan) and Kate Hudson-James (Eldest Magician), who will take the audience on a jungle adventure in ‘Just So’.
