Birmingham Youth Theatre

History

Birmingham Youth Theatre started off as BMOS Youtheatre and was the junior section of the BMOS musical theatre company and was formed in 1987 by the then Chairman, Alan Hackett, who became its first Administrator.

The first two productions were staged at the George Cadbury Hall, Selly Oak, which was not a very suitable venue as the only two dressing rooms were very small and situated on either side of the stage! Russell Taylor Directed our first show, A Broadway Melody, with Jackie Hill and Gina Humphries as joint Choreographers. James Garrington was the Musical Director. Our first Panto, Puss In Boots, was Directed by Alan Hackett with the same Choreographers and MD.

In 1989 the Youtheatre secured dates in May and November of every year at the Old Rep Theatre in Birmingham. A much better venue, having 8 Dressing Rooms and a Green Room. It also had a good size stage and flying facilities. Our first show at the theatre, Bugsy Malone was Directed by Jackie Hill and Choreographed by Gina Humphrey and Deborah Jennings.

In 1991, Alan Hackett was introduced to Vic Lyttle of Heathcote & Coleman, Accountants, who was a Trustee of the Lilley C Johnson Charitable Trust and he agreed to sponsor each of our productions. The Sponsorship has continued to this day and ensures the Members of the BMOS Youtheatre receive all the on-stage benefits of any adult musical theatre company. We are deeply grateful to Vic and his fellow Trustee, Peter Adams, for their support.

In 2002, David Smith took over as the BMOS Youtheatre Administrator and made a number of improvements, particularly, the encouragement of Members over the age of 16 years to perform with the adult BMOS musical theatre company, initially at the Crescent Theatre and from 2003 at the Birmingham Hippodrome.

In 2006, the Youtheatre performed the Midland premiere of Les Miserables (School Edition), at the Old Rep and were lucky enough to have a set built to fit that stage, complete with a 6.5m revolve and barricades that came out of the set, tilted and came together!! With a very good cast, excellent band and superb lighting, the show played to sell out audiences, many of whom, were youth groups from around the Midlands and was acclaimed by the press and public alike.
In 2007, we acquired the rights to perform another Midland Premiere, High School Musical. Again we played to full houses and the Old Rep rocked , with most of the audience joining in the songs and screaming after every number!!

In 2009 we again performed Les Miserables (School Edition), with a totally different cast. We used the same set and had the same fabulous lighting. The principals were a little older than those in 2006 and were able to give more maturity to the piece. This resulted in our receiving a five star review from John Slim of the Birmingham Evening Mail!

On the 3rd October, 2010, twenty one of the 2009 cast, were invited by the Cameron Mackintosh organisation, to take part in the finale of the Les Miserables 25th Anniversary Concert at the 02 Arena in London. We were one of only five youth groups from around the UK and the only one North of Watford, who were invited, as our production had been highly recommended to them. Each cast member was given two tickets so that their parents could watch the show. Needless to say, the day was one that will remain in the memory of everyone who went. The Concert had 220 children, 180 strong choir, made up of professional singers, all of whom had played roles in the West End, many of them in Les Miserables, an orchestra of 60 musicians and the concert was performed by the current West End cast and the Barbican touring cast with a host of famous names. Most of the original West End cast took to the stage to sing a few numbers and finally, the writers, Alain Boublil and Claude-Michel Schonberg were introduced, along with their lyricist, Herbert Kretzmer.
Most of the children had photographs taken with cast members and also, Cameron Mackintosh!
In his final speech at the end of the concert, Cameron Mackintosh said that ‘it was the biggest event in the history of Musical theatre and would probably never be repeated’.
With the help of parents of Members taking on the roles of Wardrobe, Registrar, Ticket Bookings, Props, Stage Crew, and many other jobs, BirminghamYouth Theatre, whose age's range from 9 to 18 years, goes from strength to strength.

Tags: Arts & Entertainment,Organization