A calamity for Londonderry
Musical Society as show is delayed

Sadly, like so many other theatre companies and performers, they had to stop rehearsals and shelve plans for their show as the coronavirus spread across the country and lockdown came into effect.

LMS (Londonderry Musical Society) was founded in 1962 and produced a staged musical show every year, apart from two years in the 1970s.

Company chairperson Judith O’Hare explained the impact that the lockdown had on the company and its members.

“We had intended to perform ‘Calamity Jane’ in the Millennium Forum in Londonderry from April 1 to 4 past, and were in the final stages of rehearsals when all was brought to an abrupt halt on March 14,” she said.

“We set alternative dates in July and September, which have been abandoned, but we have tentatively planned to stage the show in March 24 - March 27, 2021.

“Sadly some of our performers are moving on to college and will not be able to play their leading roles and we will have to recruit new talent.”

Despite now being able to meet up to rehearse and perform, the members stayed in touch during lockdown and encouraging each other to keep the creative juices flowing,

“During lockdown our vice-chairperson, Dawn Stevenson, has been keeping our memories alive by frequent posts on social media of photos from programmes of past shows,” continued Judith.

“She also encouraged society members to post recordings of themselves singing and even persuaded me to record an encouraging spoken message.

“We all feel a bit lost and uncertain of the future. We do not normally meet during the summer but start up choir rehearsals in early September for our Showstoppers series of charity concerts with Britannia Concert Band in the Autumn, which has been running for over 30 years.

“Sadly this is also abandoned but we hope to meet for a socially distanced AGM on September 1.

“The future of live choral singing and musical theatre performance is very uncertain but it is such an important part of all our lives, both for us as performers and for our local audiences that we sincerely hope that we will be able to sing together in the not too distant future.”