When it was realised that ‘Blitz!’ (the choice for our 50th anniversary production) was going to be an expensive show to stage, we decided to postpone our production of Half A Sixpence to June 1996. The gap was filled by an Old Tyme Music Hall based on a very successful show produced by New Malden Operatic Society (NEMCOM) about a year earlier. Our show was staged at our old home of Feltham Assembly Hall in October 1995. The programme was devised by Bill Watts (Director/Choreographer) and Rachel Keegan (Musical Director) and consisted of choreographed medleys for full company interspersed with solo items and duets. There was also a melodrama ‘Hiss The Villain’. The audience were seated at tables and a light supper was served in the interval. One of the chorus sequences ‘Minstrels’ involved a well drilled routine based mainly on hand movements and became a particular favourite with the members. A selection of dress rehearsal photographs from the Feltham music hall can be seen below.

In 1998 the Society suffered a severe financial crisis as a result of disappointing ticket sales for ‘The Wizard of Oz’. Most of the year was spent rebuilding the Society’s finances and as part of this, Bill and Rachel agreed to put together another Music Hall which was staged at Staines Town Hall in September 1998. The ‘Minstrels’ sequence was repeated (by popular demand) and the new programme included a sequence of World War I songs and a different melodrama.

Although these were low budget shows, the amount of rehearsal time and effort devoted to them was the same as for a full production. They were highly polished presentations of which we can be justly proud.