School Makes up 5 Acts out of Final 24
The Rhodes Talent Search grand finalists have been announced and Phoenix students make up 5 of the 24 acts that will be appearing. Two of these acts are actual group acts entered by the School, although 3 of the individual acts that will appear at the Grand Final on Saturday May 26th are Phoenix students. Following auditions there were 42 acts still in with a chance and the panel of 4 independent judges had to make the difficult decision of cutting this list down to just 24.
The 2 group acts are the Phoenix Clowns (Pictured top right) and Phoenix KBD (pictured bottom right). The Phoenix clowns, although originally formed several years ago, have been rejuvenated following a Jack Petchey funded Hip Hop workshop during the easter holidays and now consist of approximately 20 Phoenix drama students, mainly boys, who present an act based on physical theatre, mime, hip hop dance and beatboxing. The clowns were a huge hit when they made their first ever performance at the auditions for the Rhodes Talent Search in late April. Phoenix KBD, named after Phoenix dance tutor and group leader Katie Barker-Dale, are 6 Phoenix drama, dance and musical theatre students who have worked for the past few weeks on a version of Christina Perri’s hit song Jar of Hearts.
The 3 soloists to have made the final are Jake Poolman, Melissa Mountney and Sarinna Proudfoot Mathurin (pictured above left). All 3 students are testament to the importance of full commitment to training as they all study all 3 disciplines of drama, dance and musical theatre. Ten year old Jake, shortly to take a break from the national tour of Oliver!, sang Whistle Down The Wind from the musical of the same name whilst Melissa, 9, entertained with Wouldn’t it be Loverly? From My Fair Lady. Sarinna, just 7, stunned the judges and the audience at the auditions with a haunting version of At Last by Eta James.
The Grand Final takes place on Saturday May 26th at The Rhodes in Bishops Stortford and tickets, which are expected to be highly sought after, go on sale from May 1st and can be booked on 01279 651746. Pictures from the auditions can be seen on the Rhodes Facebook page.
Phoenix Students Audition for Top Talent Show!
Phoenix students were recently involved in auditioning for the first ever Rhodes Talent Search, held at the Rhodes Centre in Bishop Stortford. The auditions were held over 3 days where a variety of different acts auditioned in the hope of gaining a place in the Rhodes Talent Search Grand Final which takes place on Saturday 26th May. The winning acts will then get a chance to perform at The Bishop Stortford Carnival on Saturday 16th June at Sworders Field in Bishop Stortford.
Over the course of 3 days, (15th, 21st and 22nd of April) a total of 71 acts auditioned in front of a panel of four judges drawn from the entertainment industry. Following the auditions a total of 42 acts remain in the competition and the judges will now select the 22 finalists from this list. Phoenix Musical Theatre, Drama and Dance students participated in both group and solo performances including; The Phoenix Clowns (Directed by Vice Principle Jeanne Stacey following on from a recent ‘Clown Workshop’ created by Jody Schroeder, an internationally renowned hip-hop artist, and pictured above), a version of Christina Perry’s Jar of Hearts (choreographed by Phoenix Dance teacher Katie Barker-Dale, and pictured below), and a number of soloists including Primary students Jake Poolman, Sarinna Proudfoot-Mathurin, Elena Cotton and Melissa Mountney and Intermediate students Olivia Pritchard and Jessica Wolohan.
It was a very successful event and everyone that took part really enjoyed the experience and had a great day. Many of the above mentioned Phoenix acts are in the final 42 and we wish them the very best of luck in reaching the final and we’ll let you all know the outcome as soon as we do! More pictures taken throughout the auditions can be found on the Rhodes Facebook page.
Nominated by Phoenix Principal Phil Dale
Drew is a triple threat student who studies drama, dance and musical theatre with Phoenix and has shown great improvement in recent months. He also recently completed two weeks work experience with the company. During that time he proved himself to be not only great fun to work with but reliable, adaptable and willing, three qualities that will no doubt serve him well in his future career. Drew’s commitment to Phoenix in recent weeks has been unprecedented and we are delighted to give this Jack Petchey Achievement Award to Drew in recognition of this fact.
Audience Delighted by Students Showcase Effort
Students from Phoenix Musical Theatre and Dance classes delighted a total audience of over 500 people when they performed recently on the main stage at Harlow Playhouse. The 2 hour show featured performances from every Phoenix student and included both group presentations and solo performances. The evening got underway with a performance of songs and scenes from the musical Our House, presented by the Year 7 to 9 Musical Theatre class. Later in the first half the Year 5 & 6 students presented excerpts from Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and the 3 oompa loompa’s proved to be a big hit. Many people’s favourite Musical Theatre performance was the 24 year 1 to 4 students who presented a fantastic rendition of 2 songs from Annie with linking scenes and held the stage effortlessly despite having an average age of just 7. Special mention must go to Sarinna Proudfoot-Mathurin who took the part of Annie (pictured). The Musical Theatre performances were rounded off with a selection of songs from Westside Story by the year 10+ class, showing the range and versatility of not just the students but also Musical Theatre Tutor Debbie Hannam.
Dance Tutor Katie Barker-Dale showed how far our relatively new dance classes have progressed with 2 medleys that involved all students, the first being a 9 minute tribute to Michael Jackson that left the audience both amazed and delighted. Other additions to the evening included solo performances from year 10+ student Grace Wheeler and recent Jack Petchey Achievement Award winner Alysha Hutchings, who sang a version of Hallelujah. Year 10+ student and Primary Drama assistant tutor Amy Moulder took the role of Nancy to sing ‘I’d Do Anything’ with Will Edden, currently Dodger in the National Tour of Oliver! Jake Poolman, who also appears in the National tour of Oliver sang ‘Where is Love’ from the same show. There were also 4 performances of Music and Dance from our special guests Burnt Mill Academy.
The evening finished with a rendition of the Queen Hit ‘The Shiow Must Go On’ sung by Year 10+ students Grace Wheeler, Amy Moulder and Connor Linden, before Grace went on to lead all 124 performers in a version of ‘Carnival’ from Fame (pictured). A DVD of the show case will be available soon and a full set of pictures can be viewed at our Facebook page.
Nominated by Dance Tutor Katie Barker-Dale
Jake has been a regular member of the Phoenix Theatre School for some time now. His attendance at Dance class is excellent, he is always cheerful and smiling and ready to try anything. He always tries his best and tackles all the choreography with enthusiasm. He is the only boy in his class and still goes for it even though the routines are sometimes a bit girly!! Well done Jake!