Mrs Cole’s Music Hall
Louise Gold starred as Divine Dixie Diva, at The Mill
At Sonning, from 3 December 1984 to 5 January 1985
Cast
Mr John
Bardon - Elegant
Miss
Jacquie-Ann Carr -
Tantalizing and Titillating Terpsichore
Miss
Louise Gold -
Divine
Miss
Susie McKenna - The
Saucie Sue of Sonnig
Mr Tyler
Butterworth - Wat a
Winner!
Mr Ian
Hanham - Happy
Handsome and Haunting
and your
Chairman for tonight Mr Shaun Curry - The Hottest Seat In Town
possibly
with Tam Harper as Mrs Penny Cole (not actually credited as such in the
programme, but pictured among the cast in a review)
Production Team
Musical
Direction - Mr Michael Dixon
Poetry and Passion at the Pianoforte - Mr
Michael Dixon
Beautifully Bassic Bass - Mr Rod Dunk
Persuasively Palpitating Percussion - Mr
Mark Walmsley
Stage
Management and Scenic Design - Mr Andrew Allum
Assisted by his Attentive Acolytes - Mr
Grant Mapley, Mrs Wendy Allum & Miss Tarn Harper
Supervisor
of Sartorial Sensations - Mrs Trudie Mapley
Assisted by her Maid to Measure - Mrs
Webbing & Mr Gary Page
Props and
Support to the Entire Company - Mr Brian Mapley & Mr Ron Taplin
Production
Manager - Mr Christopher Augur
Chief
Electrification Officer - Mr David Hancock
Songs (choruses
listed in the programme)
“provided by a benevolent Management to enable to
audience to indulge in participative reciprocity”
1. There Ain’t No Sense Sitting On The
Fence
2. I’m ‘Enery The Eighth I Am
3. Hold You Hand Out Naughty Boy
4. A Daring Young Man On The Flying Trapeze
5. Give Me Your Smile
6. Keep The Home Fires Burning
7. All The Nice Girls Love A Salior
8. It’s The Soldiers Of The Queen My Lads
9.
10. Oh! Mr Porter
11. Knocked Them In The
12. Boiled Beef And Carrots
13. Oom-pah-pah
14. Any Old Iron
15. Where Did You Get That Hat?
16. Knees Up Mother Brown
It is perhaps worth noting that all the
songs listed above are “traditional”, with the possible exception of Oom-Pah-Pah
which is from Mr Lionel Bart’s musical Oliver, but
it certainly sounds “traditional”.
Miss Louise Gold and Miss Susie McKenna
went on to appear together in New Girl In Town
Mr Shaun Curry had previously taken part
in The Royal Variety
Performance (1982)
Mr Ian Hanham
had previously acted in the fim The Great Muppet Caper, on which Miss Louise Gold performed in her
singing puppeteer’s guise.
Mr Michael Dixon went on to play the piano
for A Love Letter To Dan.
It is very likely that one of Miss Louise Gold’s
performances in Mrs Cole’s Music Hall may have taken place eleven years to the day
(on the exact same day of the week) of her professional stage debut in Dick Whittington.
Miss Louise Gold of course probably had a
certain familiarity with some of these classic Music Hall songs from her work
as a singing puppeteer on The Muppet Show (which certainly
included Knocked Them In The Old Kent Road and Any Old Iron).
Indeed she can just about be heard on the Muppet album The Muppet Show Music Hall.
The review in The Reading Evening Post was
actually headed ‘Send-up with a touch of Gold’, clearly referring to Louise!
Critics Comments
. “The
delectable “lady artistes”, Louise Gold, Jacquie-Ann Carr and Susie McKenna
delight us with their contrasting song and dance numbers” F.H.T. READING
CHRONICLE, 14 December 1984.
“But the statuesque Louise Gold leaves the
most vivid impression - first strutting in top hat and tails and then transformed
into a disgruntled Valkyrie in a hilarious operatic send-up.” (critic
not named, but possibly Roy Martin), THE READING EVENING POST, 8 December 1984.
Links about Mrs
Cole’s Music Hall
