1000s score hit with musical magic

Hollywood glitz and glamour filled the air at one of Birmingham’s Symphony Hall as more than 1,000 tuneful children performed music from the movies.

Youngsters from schools across Dudley impressed their proud families as they performed songs from High School Musical and The Blues Brothers yesterday afternoon.

The mammoth production also saw orchestras perform well-known scores from famous films such Mission Impossible, Pirates of the Caribbean, Gladiator and the James Bond movies.

Around 1,500 children performed at the two concerts which formed the Dudley Performing Arts spring production.

Thousands of proud parents, grandparents and siblings packed into the concert hall to watch youngsters, aged from seven to 19-years-old, sing and play instruments. Organisers say the production is the first time they have co-ordinated a celebration on such a grand scale within a single day.

It is also the first time the group has staged its own event at the prestigious Symphony Hall. Concert organiser Chris Jones said that tickets had sold like hot cakes, with 1,000 going in just one week.

“We do quite a lot of large scale productions but we have never done anything like this before,” he said. “The logistics of getting nearly 2,000 performers signed in and looked after has been a real challenge. But we’ve also had a lot of fun, it’s been great.”

Sue Simpson, co-director of children’s choir VTime, made up of pupils from across Dudley, said that the children had “loved” performing their favourite songs.

“It’s really captured their imagination,” she said. “For seven to 11-years-old there’s nothing better than High School Musical.”

The event was just one of a host of productions that Dudley Performing Arts will put on this year. In July they will perform at the Himley Festival.