Shaun Says: A wonderful way to spend a hot summer evening

Turn the clock back four months, it’s Friday night and as is our wont, Janine and I are on the sofa watching old episodes of Top Of The Pops. On the two episodes from the 1980s, two of my favourite songs came on, firstly, The Music of the Night from Phantom of the opera, sung by Michael Crawford, and then, I know him so well by Elaine Paige and Barbara Dixon from the musical Chess.

I casually warbled along, and just idly mentioned that although I am by no means a fan of musicals, I do love a good show tune, and I’d like to maybe perform some on stage at some point in the future.

Quick as a flash, Janine says, “ask Charlotte if she wants to do it”.

Charlotte Proctor, a friend of around 15 years for myself, and much longer for Janine, musician, singer, teacher, wife, mum and absolute DIVA!

Charlotte gathered an elite group of fellow musical theatre friends and we started making plans for a gig, sometime.

Then came the call from Hilary Osborne, Charlotte’s mum and a long time mentor and tutor for Sheffield’s young performers. Along with her husband Steve Osborne (1954-2020) Hilary has run Valley Music Festival since 2018, reviving a tradition going back to 1907 in Stocksbridge, a reinvention aimed at bringing the love of music and performance to children who may not ever get the chance in times of austerity, as we are now.

June 18. Stocksbridge. A Booking for Pint and a Half.

We brought in Stasha Majoury, Emily Needle, Andy Wild, Emily Ward and the incredibly talented Urzula Sobzcek, just 18-years-old with an incredible voice and presence.

So, to Wednesday Night, a lovely and welcoming crowd gathered and we began, Charlotte and myself performing “I know him so well” Charlotte as Elaine, me as Babs, obviously, for the same reason we named ourselves A Pint and a Half, Charlotte is a touch over five foot tall and tiny, and I’m, well I’m me.

The show had a few mistakes, was a bit filled with semi disasters, mostly due to my need for crib sheets, but each of the singers performed amazingly, we covered tunes from Wicked, Miss Saigon, Rocky Horror Show, Little Shop of Horrors, Beauty and the Beast, Monty Python, The Wall, Grease, Mamma Mia and even the Theme from Red Dwarf!

Laughs were had, songs were sung and money was raised. A wonderful way to spend a hot summer evening in Stocksbridge.