.
 Tom Mullins
some of our audience
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| | | Tom Mullins Concert - 23 April 2017 |
Report and photos - Jim Paterson
L to R - Megan, Ben, Tom, Conall, Cate, and Meg
Joyce Hunters' grandson Tom Mullins arrived at St.
Mungo's church on Sunday 23rd April with a group of his friends to entertain us
with a wide range of popular music from our favourite musical. More than 70 people were enthralled with
the performances of these young talented singers.
Tom was
joined by friends Cate Anderson, Conall Ross, Megan Gardiner, Ben
Collins, and Meg Laird-Drummond. I joined Brodie who controlled the
sound and music, in the sound gallery.
 The first Act opened with Tom and Megan leading the group singing 'Seasons of Love'
from the musical 1993 rock musical RENT, loosely based on Giacomo
Puccini's opera La Bohème. It tells the story of a group of
impoverished young artists struggling to survive and create a life in
New York City's East Village in the thriving days of Bohemian Alphabet
City, under the shadow of HIV/AIDS.
Tom graduated from
The MGA Academy of Performing Arts, having received an HND in Musical
Theatre after three years of training. He was Heavily involved in the
Edinburgh Fringe, both performance-wise and creatively, including
performing in the Edinburgh production of 'Spring Awakening', a
musical that mixes 19th century Germany with rock music. The story
follows a group of teenagers as they come of age.
 Megan
Gardiner fell in love with musical theatre at the age of 13, and is now
a 3rd year Musical theatre student at the MGA Academy of Performing
Arts in Edinburgh, training for a full-time musical theatre
qualification. Before reaching the academy, she honed her craft at the
Dunfermline-based Limelight Productions and Carnegie Youth Theatre.
Conall continued with 'Younger than Springtime', from the 1949 Rodgers and Hammerstein musical South Pacific. Conall
has played in a commercial band performing regularly in pubs, High
Streets, and on larger stages such as Perth Concert Hall; whilst also
completing formal Musical Theatre training. Whether it's Phantom or Les
Mis, Buble or Sinatra, Mika or Elvis, he has the vocal range and
talent.
Cate then took to the stage to sing 'I Feel Pretty',
for the 1957 musical West side story. Cate is a former pupil at
Dunfermline High School, starting her stage career aged 11 with a role
in Rosyth and District Musical Society’s performance of The King
and I at Carnegie Hall in Dunfermline. She is now an HND Musical
Theatre student at the MGA Academy of Performing Arts in Edinburgh.
 Meg followed with "Journey to the Past", a song from the 1997 20th Century Fox animated feature film, Anastasia.
Ben Collins then took centre stage for 'Out There', a song from the 1996 Disney animated film The Hunchback of Notre Dame. The
song is reprised at the very end, when Quasimodo realises that the
world is cruel and wicked. But he also realises that it is joyous and
kind as well, and that it is the only world we've got so we must accept
it, highs and lows included.
We continued with 'Corner of the Sky'
from the 1972 musical Pippin, which ran for 1,944 performances before
closing on June 12, 1977. In the London production the song was
performed by Paul Jones, and covered by The Jackson 5 in 1972. A
duet was created by Dusty Springfield and Petula Clark, whose vocals
were recorded more than 30 years apart.
Cate returned to sing 'Don't Rain on my Parade' from the 1964 musical Funny Girl.
The
song was covered by many artists, among the notable ones are Nancy
Wilson in 1964, Bobby Darin in 1966, Shirley Bassey in 1965 and by Only
Men Aloud! in 2008. The Bobby Darin version was used in the film
American Beauty and the trailer for Catch Me If You Can. Diana Ross and
The Supremes covered it on their 1968 album "Sing and Perform Funny
Girl", and Robin Williams also sang this song while dressed as Barbara
Streisand during a scene from Mrs. Doubtfire.
 As we headed for the end of the first act Meg introduced us to the first Phantom of the Opera songs 'Wishing You Were Somehow Here Again', which was followed by the group closing with the well known signature overture from Phantom.
After
the interlude break the group returned for Act 2, starting with Meg
singing 'I'm a Star' written by Scott Alan. This was followed by
'The Streets of Dublin', from the musical The man of no importance,
with music by Stephen Flaherty. It tells the story of an amateur
theatre group in Dublin and their leader, who is determined to stage a
version of Salome at his church, despite the objections of church
authorities.
Conall took us back to West side Story with
'Maria', who is the leading female character in the film and theatrical
version of West Side Story, the award winning adaptation of William
Shakespeare's romantic tragedy Romeo and Juliet.
Meg changed
the pace with 'As long as he needs me'. from the musical Oliver. Meg
will be playing Nancy in this years Fringe presentation by Captivate
Theatre at the new Gilded Balloon in Rose Street, at the Rose Theatre.
 The Monty Python 2005 musical comedy Spamalot, adapted from the 1975 film Monty Python and the Holy Grail, was the source of our next song, 'The Song that Goes Like This', being a highly irreverent parody of the Arthurian Legend.
We returned to music composed by Andrew Lloyd Webber. 'Till I Hear you Sing', from Love Never Dies. Based on the book is by Lloyd Webber and Ben Elton, it is a sequel to Lloyd Webber's
long-running musical The Phantom of the Opera. You can hear the similar
musical styles.
We
were heading for the end of our evening, which would not be complete
without a song or two from the musical Les Miserables. The
London production has run continuously since October 1985 – the
longest-running musical in the West End and the second longest-running
musical in the world .
The group came together starting with 'A Heart Full of Love', followed by 'One Day More', 'I dreamed a dream' before the shows most famous song ' Bring Him Home'.
A
fantastic evening from a group with outstanding musical talent that
together provided a well balanced production for our audience. The
future is indeed very bright for these young singers and actors. When
you see them in the future, as surely you will, you will be able to say
'I saw them first at St. Mungo's in April 2017'.
A total of £350 was donated by the audience, going towards the upkeep of the church.
Tom's first concert to us was at the Scots Night on 23 January. Full Story here
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