.. And Finally!
Now that the excitment of Festival Five is just a 'silent solemn memory' here are just a few
final thoughts from your Webmistress and Web Photographer.
This is the fifth year we have attended the Festival in Buxton and it is one instance where
the laws of diminishing returns certainly does not apply - the Festival gets better every year.
Highlights for us were:
- the Opening Ceremony which included the 'Pinafore from Scratch'
- the Orchestral Concert (particularly the Io Paean from Martyr of Antioch)
- taking part in the wonderful Savoynet Trial by Jury
- the commeraderie of the Savoynet
- meeting old friends
- making new friends from the USA and sharing with them the lovely Derby countryside
- the performances of Gillian Knight, Gareth Jones and Eric Roberts in the professional
productions
- Trent Opera's hugely entertaining and always innovative 'Patience'
- so many friends winning awards - congratulations particularly to Nick Sales and fellow Savoyards from South Wales, Bronwen Evans and Howard Turnbull
- being in agreement with the Adjudicator's choices
- being given printed copies of the web site from enthusiasts each night before going into the Opera House
- Buxton
If there were any lowlights these would be:
- We felt that there was a slight drop in standard. Trent Opera, Derby G&S Company and South Anglia fly the flag for Britain but it would be nice to see more companies give them a run for their money.
Rosehill - their show and cabaret - were sadly missed by us this year.
- The weather
- The Festival Club cabarets which, with only a few exceptions, consisted mainly of sung party pieces with variable entertainment value, hardly any audience participation and fun and (oh! horror!) little G&S
We would like to say a huge thank you to all the people who sent their appreciation and encouragement for the web site during the Festival - it kept us going.
The unsung heroes for us were Dr Clive Woods who some days played the piano non-stop from "morn 'till eventide" and Peter Zavon who, with good humour and patience, let us
invade his hotel room for sometimes up to three hours each day in order for us to create the web site.
Thanks also to the Smiths for upgrading our seats whenever possible to enable us to take the best possible images of the shows.