Prima Donna

When Sharon, the leading soprano, has a car accident, the group's latest production of Orpheus in the Underworld is in jeopardy.  Where can they find a replacement soprano?  To save the show, Jack produces a substitute who nobody has seen before. 

But when the new soprano turns up late for her first rehearsal, throws a tantrum and walks out in disgust because the chorus don't know their parts, what are they to think?  What does Jack know that he's not telling?  And why is Aggie keeping so tight-lipped about her?  And why are Richard and Barney so nervous?  Is Eurydice really Brunhilde?

The answers to all these questions (and more) will become clear when you put on the hilarious show -  Prima Donna.

The part of Eva Rossini was written for the enormously talented soprano, Jo Herco - and we eventually got round to getting together to perform it! 

Prima Donna is published by Jasper Publishing.  Click here for more details. 

Prima Donna - the podcast

Prima Donna has been recorded - at last!  We managed to get the whole cast in the country at one time!  This is the third of the Off-the-Wall plays to be recorded for the internet, and the first to have musical extracts which are integral to the play.

Despite the difficulties of getting the cast together, we managed to record the majority of the play in two sessions.  If I thought that would be the end of the problems, I was in for a nasty shock!  Because we had to record the music separately, we had to arrange a further recording session for the chorus parts, and yet another two for the various solos that went with them.  Add that to the time it took to synchronise the musical arrangement with the script, and you can get just a hint of the work involved.  I'm very grateful for the efforts of the members of the Concept Players, who had to put up with endless retakes, and for the patience of our two accompanists - Gary Mullins and Nicky Rose.  I'm also extremely grateful for the hard work of Jo Herco, who recorded her bits after a sleepless night, with an awful cold, and while balancing baby Jonathan in one hand, and the score in the other!

Despite all of the above, this was the podcast which had the most outtakes - not because of mistakes, but because of the cast laughing so much!

The cast was:

Eva - Jo Herco

Anne - Lisa Sadie 

Jack - Howard Turnbull

Barney - Paul Buckle

Aggie - Janet Holloway

Christine -  Fiona Thomas

Richard - Kevin Welch

Doris - Cheryl Payne

Sharon - Lorna Welch

Mike - Steve Davies

Reporter -  Jeff Heenan-Davies

Receptionist - Rachael Jones

We hope you enjoy our podcast of Prima Donna - you can download it by clicking on the links below:.

 Episode 1

 Episode 4

 Episode 2

 Episode 5

 Episode 3

 Episode 6


 

© Nigel Holloway 2023