Press - West Side Story

13th January 2008

Dear Madam/Sir,

In returning our 'Friends of Dynamo' personal information slip to you, we would like to take the opportunity of thanking your organisation and the cast of 'West Side Story' for once again giving us a wonderful evening's entertainment.

One can only guess at the amount of hard work and number of hours put in by so many people, to produce such a splendid show. From the moment the show finished until we arrived home some forty minutes later, my wife and I talked about the musical, recalling our highlights and the overall enthusiasm and commitment put into the performance by the cast. This has continued on and off over the past few days, as we have meet friends. Once again your company's production really impressed us.

There were so many performances to savour. The delicate singing of Alice Mayhead, the brave performance of Ross Cobbold and Pippa Stimpson's portrayal of Doc, readily come to mind, but the whole cast is to be congratulated. At a time when youth in general get such a bad press, this is a shining example of what is going on not just in Havant, but all over the country, and rarely if ever gets coverage.

Congratulation to you all for another superb evening's entertainment. We look forward to seeing 'Alice in Wonderland' in May.

Yours,

David and Joy Porter

Dear Andrew and the Cast

There was so much that I wanted to say to you all after last night's wonderful performance of one of the greatest musicals ever written.

West Side Story has always been a favourite of mine since I first saw it in the early 60s and your performance last night would have made the show's creators very proud indeed. The colour, exuberance and fantastic use of the space was worth the ticket price alone and coupled with some truly emotional and thoughtful acting and wonderful singing left me at times both speechless and highly emotional.

Added to this was the superb choreography to make a truly superb ensemble piece with everyone contributing to the performance.

The costumes, set and all the other teams of adults need the highest praise and congratulations and the musical setting by John Gledall convinced me that there must have been a full orchestra hiding somewhere in the theatre.

I am sure that you will all have great memories of the show and I for one will count it as one of Dynamo Youth Theatre's finest productions

Have a great week.

Frank Hunwick

Dear Andrew and Everyone at D.Y.T.

Just a short message to tell you all how very much Don and I enjoyed Saturday's matinee production. I wanted to say more back stage but I felt the whole afternoon very emotional.

We were just "blown away" by the greetings we received from friends that we had not seen since we moved and then the production itself. The sheer power and strength of all those young people. They were not just on stage but were acting on stage, every member seemed truly dedicated to the show. The singing was so strong and passionate, far above any standard that we have seen in a youth group before, in fact they ranked above some professional productions that we have witnessed. The stagecraft was genuinely outstanding.

We thank you, the crew and the company for a brilliant afternoon, even though we feel completely shattered today. Looking forward to the wonders of Alice in Wonderland.

Kindest Regards.

Ann and Don. [Stewart]