Belgrade Theatre Launches 'Crush' At Bablake

It was hockey sticks to the fore as the stars of the Belgrade Theatre's new musical comedy 'Crush' went 'back to school', at the start of this month, for a day of traditional team-spirit, riotous routines and lashings of old-school charm. 

For the launch day our Main Hall and the entrance to the school, which of course featured in the film 'Nativity', were once again asked to perform a star role! There were special guest appearances from much-loved stage and TV personality Sara Crowe (best known for her roles in 'Carry On Columbus' and 'Four Weddings and a Funeral'), respected actress and vocalist Rosemary Ashe, who played Carlotta in the original production of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s 'Phantom of the Opera' and Solihull's rising star Kirsty Malpass. Each donned their hockey sticks and school colours to perform exclusive renditions of three musical numbers from the show. 

Two dozen girls from our Shell year group (Y7) enjoyed meeting the actors, joining in with the promotional video and being photographed for the publicity stills. They particularly enjoyed being involved in a stirring rendition of the show’s closing number, ‘The School Song’, before being given the opportunity to meet the show's creators, Maureen Chadwick and Kath Gotts (a writing partnership best known for 'Bad Girls', 'Waterloo Road', 'Footballers’ Wives' and 'Bad Girls: The Musical'), who were on hand to answer questions and meet the future stars of the stage. 

Commenting on her own school days, Kirsty Malpass said: ‘I was a good pupil – I missed out on being Head Girl by a whisker. From a young age, I was heavily involved in singing, drama, debating and most sports, but my favourite sport was rounders! I was, what you might call, a joiner-in!’