1980a – Annie Get Your Gun

The Festival Players’ first show of the eighties was Irving Berlin’s musical life of Annie Oakley, with a book by Dorothy and Herbert Fields, and hit songs including ‘Anything you can do’ and ‘There’s no business like show business’.

Producer Jean Wilson

Musical Director Brian Thomas

Choreographer Pauline Brown

Lighting Designer David McRobb

Wardrobe Peggy Warren

1980b – Cabaret

1980’s second Festival Players show was quite a contrast to its first, as the company bid its audience ‘Wilkommen, Bienvenue, Welcome’ to  1930s Berlin. Based on a novel by Christopher Isherwood, and with music by John Kander and lyrics by Fred Webb, Cabaret told the story of life at the seedy Kit Kat Klub, and the relationship between American writer Cliff Bradshaw and English performer Sally Bowles.

Producer Bob Kingsbury

Musical Director Brian Thomas

Choreographer Jenny Arnold

Lighting Nigel Bragg, David McRobb

Wardrobe Peggy Warren

Set Design Roger Dalladay

 

1981a – South Pacific

The Festival Players returned to Rodgers and Hammerstein in 1981 after a gap of three years. The popular South Pacific, set just a few years later than Cabaret but halfway across the world, tells the story of an American nurse and a French plantation owner. Its best known songs include ‘I’m Gonna Wash That Man Right Outta My Hair’ and ‘There is Nothing Like a Dame.’

Producer Clive Young

Musical Director Brian Thomas

Choreographer Sue Tessa

Lighting & Sound David McRobb, David Rowe

Wardrobe Peggy Warren, Heather Nurse

Set Design Roger Dalladay

 

1981b – Half a Sixpence

Based on H. G. Wells’s novel Kipps: the Story of a Simple Soul, Half a Sixpence was originally written as a vehicle for performer Tommy Steele. The Festival Players’ 1981 production brought songs like ‘Flash Bang Wallop’ and ‘Money to Burn’ to the ADC stage in July 1981.

Producer Tom Farrell

Musical Director Brian Thomas

Choreographer Sue Tessa

Lighting Design & Sound David McRobb

Costume Design Margaret Thorp

Scenery Stage Productions, London

 

1982 – Calamity Jane

Produced by Tom Farrell, the Festival Players’ 1982 show told the story of Deadwood City’s Calamity Jane and Wild Bill Hicock.

 

1983a – Brigadoon

In the first of two shows in their tenth anniversary year, the Festival Players visited the mysterious Scottish town of Brigadoon, in Lerner and Loewe’s popular musical.

Director Pauline Holttum

Musical Director Brian Thomas

Choreographer Jenny Arnold

Lighting Designer David McRobb

Wardrobe Peggy Warren

Scenery Stagesets

1983b – Guys and Dolls

From the Scottish highlands to a fictional New York, in Lesser, Swerling and Burrows’s musical based on the works of Damon Runyon: the Festival Players’s second show of the year featured songs as well loved as ‘Sit Down, You’re Rocking the Boat’, ‘Luck be a Lady’, and ‘Marry the Man Today.’

Director Bob Kingsbury

Musical Director Brian Thomas

Choreographer Jill Dorne

Lighting Designer David McRobb

Wardrobe Peggy Warren

Set Design Peter Norwood

1984a – The Pajama Game

A strike in a pajama factory was the topical subject of the Festival Players’ first show in 1984, which told the story of Sid Sorokin and Katherine ‘Babe’ Williams.

Director Tom Farrell

Musical Director Brian Thomas

Choreographer Jill Dorne

Lighting Designer David McRobb

Wardrobe Katharine Free

Scenery Stage Productions

1984b – Call me madam

The Festival Players’ second show of 1984 was a satire on American foreign policy. With music and lyrics by Irving Berlin, Call Me Madam debuted on the Broadway stage in 1950, and came to Cambridge’s Mumford Theatre 34 years later.

Director Clive Young

Musical Director Brian Thomas

Choreographer Lesley Mattocks

Lighting Stage Tim Roper, Diane Salmon, David McRobb

Wardrobe Peggy Warren

Scenery Stage Sets

1985a – Kiss Me Kate

1985 saw the Festival Players brush up their Shakespeare with their first production of Cole Porter’s tremendously popular adaptation of the Taming of the Shrew. As the cast of a musical version of Shakespeare’s play prepare for the show, another intrigue is forming off-stage…

Director Bob Kingsbury

Musical Director Brian Thomas

Choreographer Maureen Singh

Lighting Designer Paul Curtis

Wardrobe Peggy Warren

Set Designer David King

1985b – The Boy Friend

The French riviera came to Cambridge in 1985, as the Festival Players brought Sandy Wilson’s 1920s musical to the Mumford Theatre.

Director Tom Farrell

Musical Director Brian Thomas

Choreographer June Wallman

Lighting Designer Paul Curtis

Costume Design & Wardrobe Margaret Thorp

Scenery Stage Production Ltd.

 

1986a – Finian’s Rainbow

Brian ‘Tommy’ Thomas doubled up as producer and musical director for the Festival Players’ first show of 1986. Set in the fictional American state of ‘Missitucky’, Finian’s Rainbow sets U.S. senators against leprechauns to a soundtrack influenced both by gospel and tradtional Irish music.

Producer Brian Thomas

Musical Director Brian Thomas

Choreographer June Wallman

Lighting Designer Paul Curtis

Costume Design & Wardrobe Peggy Warren

Scenery Stage Production Ltd.

1986b – Oliver!

Twenty six years after its West End debut, Lionel Bart’s adaptation of Dickens’s famous novel came to Cambridge’s Mumford Theatre in 1986, full of popular songs and well-loved (or much-feared) characters.

Director Clive Young

Musical Director Brian Thomas

Designer Peter Norwood

Lighting Designer Paul Curtis

Costumes Daphne Pratt

 

1987a – The King and I

The Festival Players reacquainted themselves with Rodgers and Hammerstein in this tale of 19th century Siam.

Director Tom Farrell

Musical Director Brian Thomas

Choreographer June Wallman

Lighting Designer Paul Curtis

Wardrobe Peggy Warren

 

1987b – Salad Days

1987 saw the Festival Players return to  Julian Slade and Dorothy Reynolds’s Salad Days, nine years after their first production of the show. The Mumford Theatre was the venue for this version of the 1950s musical.

Director Bob Kingsbury

Musical Director Brian Thomas

Choreographer Maureen Mitchell

Lighting Designer Paul Curtis

Wardrobe Peggy Warren

 

1988a – Perchance to Dream

The Festival Players’ 1988 production of Ivor Novello’s 1945 musical once again saw Brian “Tommy” Thomas take on a dual role as producer and musical director, as this complex adventure came to Cambridge.

Producer Brian Thomas

Musical Director Brian Thomas

Choreographer June Wallman

Lighting Designer Paul Curtis

Set Design Stage Productions Ltd.

Costume Design & Wardrobe Peggy Warren

 

1988b – Fiddler on the Roof

The Mumford Theatre hosted this popular musical of Jewish life in early twentieth-century Russia, written by Bock, Harnick, and Stein.

Director Tom Farrell

Musical Director Brian Thomas

Choreographer June Wallman

Lighting Designer Paul Curtis

Set Design Stage Productions Ltd.

Costume Design & Wardrobe Katherine Free

 

1989a – Godspell

Steve Attmore directed this production of Stephan Schwartz’s 1970 religious musical for the Festival Players; twenty five years later, the company would stage the show again at the ADC.

1989b – Camelot

Lerner and Loewe’s 1960 musical about life at King Arthur’s court was the Festival Players’ final show of the 1980s, perhaps best remembered for its song ‘How to Handle a Woman’. The production saw the debut of Roy Braybrooke as set designer, a company stalwart whose memory is honoured by the award in his name, given each year to the person who has most contributed to the success of the year’s main show.

Director Michael J Holland

Musical Director Brian Thomas

Choreographer Annette Norman

Lighting Designer Paul Curtis

Set Design Roy Braybrooke

Costume Design & Wardrobe Diana Lloyd