Check out these local amateur dramatic shows coming up

Bingley Amateurs presents The Addams Family, the Musical at Bingley Arts Centre from March 6-9, with a Saturday matinee. Join Morticia and Gomez, their quirky kids Wednesday and Pugsley, Uncle Fester and Lurch for the fun family show.

Says Jeff Peacock at Bingley Amateurs: “The accomplished cast is having a rollicking time in rehearsals. In the photo, amongst the family behind young newcomer Reggie Rollins are: Anna and Mike Riley; Jill Whitehouse and daughter Emily, Paul Chewins, artistic director of Bingley Little Theatre, and Jamie Rogers. We’re pleased to welcome Reggie, who appeared in the recent production of Oliver! at Leeds Grand.” Call (01274) 567983 or go to bingleyartscentre.co.uk

* ANDREW Lloyd Webber’s Sunset Boulevard has been playing to rave reviews in the West End, with Nicole Scherzinger in the lead role of Norma Desmond, and now audiences closer to home will have chance to see the show, when Ilkley Musical Theatre Society stage it in March.

Sunset Boulevard, based on the Billy Wilder film, centres on delusional former silent film star Norma Desmond who, discarded by Paramount Studios with the advent of the ‘Talkies’, dreams of making a triumphant return. With the help of struggling screenwriter Joe Gillis, Norma plans her comeback, with tragic consequences.

Rachel McMahon as Norma Desmond (Image: Submitted image)

Set in the glamour of 1950s Hollywood, the musical features much-loved songs, including With One Look, The Perfect Year and As If We Never Said Goodbye. Playing Norma is Rachel McMahon, who says: “It’s 16 years since I performed on stage in a musical, after migrating to Australia, starting a family then returning to the UK, so I feel a certain empathy with Norma in staging my own comeback! The role is physically and vocally challenging, I hope I do Norma justice.”

The show runs from March 6-9 at King’s Hall, Ilkley, with Wednesday to Friday shows at 7.15pm then Saturday at 1.30pm and 6.30pm. Visit ilkleyoperatic.co.uk

* RODGERS and Hammerstein classic The Sound of Music opens at Yeadon Town Hall Theatre next month.

The show, from March 8-16, is staged by Yeadon Theatre Company. It is, says the society, a “tougher-than-it-looks musical”:

“The Nazi-era drama of Maria, a novitiate nun-turned-governess, is a love story and relentlessly smiley narrative about overcoming adversity. But there is an earnestness that really does make for feelgood theatre. This new production lays up the story’s politics, showing how tensions between collaborators and anti-fascists infect a party thrown by the Captain on the eve of the 1938 Anschluss.

"As our Chair Pat Poole observed at rehearsals: ‘Everything about the show feels right. Lucy Boniface’s Maria is an impulsive, engagingly tomboyish figure who always seems to be on the run, whether from the abbey or into the waiting arms of the widowed Captain.

"Andre Stolarski gets across the crucial point that Von Trapp’s determination not to yield to Nazi pressure is reinforced by Maria’s spiritual resolution. And David Kirk provides ebullient support.

Lucy Boniface as Maria with one team of the Von Trapp children (Image: Yeadon Amateur Theatre Company)

“This production also reminds that the show’s best songs aren’t always the ones everyone hums. No Way to Stop It, dropped from the film, spears false hopes of appeasement. This fresh approach respects the story’s integrity and a clever multi-purpose setting ensures the whole theatre is alive - with the sound of music.”