Tag: Musical Matinee Club

Musical Matinee Club: Brigadoon

Brigadoon was the last screening in the current Musical Matinee Club season, and we went out with a bang!

We dived fully into the Scottish theme for this ‘Everybody-Friendly’ screening of Brigadoon, kitting audience members out in tartan sashes. They looked fantastic! For a sensory treat, we added a little lavender to our mini heather bouquets to wear as “boutonnieres”. The whole auditorium smelt wonderful, especially when we waved them!

Every audience member also had some comical deer antlers made from modelling balloons, which we pointed to every time any of the actors in the film used the word “dearie”, and especially during a song called Waiting For My Dearie.

We held orange napkins aloft when they sang Down On MacConnacy Square, we waved them to replicate Cyd Charise’s underskirt as she danced, and scrunched them up to create “flame torches” during the search scene.

There are some wonderful song and dance numbers during this film, but by a long stretch, the best dancing I witnessed was during our dance break – we danced to Donald Where’s Your Troosers and Shang a Lang in keeping with the Scottish theme. We had an absolute blast!

Roll on the next season!

Musical Matinee Club: High Society

The week before Valentine’s Day, 100 or so of us gathered together to watch the romantic musical comedy “High Society”. This was a Musical Matinee Club screening, which means each audience member received a goody bag filled with fun things to do during the film and was actively encouraged to sing-a-long and dance in the aisles!

It was a glamorous affair – we each wore a brilliant bow tie, and a frill in our hair.
We waved paper doilies and balloon flowers throughout the film and popped party poppers just as Frank Sinatra kissed Grace Kelly on screen! We joined in with Louis Armstrong’s performances forming an orchestra of jazz musicians (using our paper cup trumpets), and when Frank Sinatra asked “Who Wants To Be A Millionaire”, we held up signs reading “I DON’T!”.

We sang out loud, we danced throughout. The audience enjoyed the dance break mid-film so much, that they demanded we play another song so they could keep dancing!

We have an amazing team of volunteers who help make props and load the goody bags ahead of the film, and they make the whole thing run wonderfully smoothly. A massive round of applause to them!

We have one more screening to look forward to in this season.
Brigadoon on Thursday 12th March 2pm – hope to see you there!

By Suzy Harvey

Musical Matinee Club relaxed screenings are specifically designed for people who may benefit from a more informal environment, specifically those living with dementia and/or disabilities.

Image by Ron Wood
Image by Ron Wood
Image by Ron Wood
Image by Ron Wood
Image by Ron Wood
Image by Ron Wood

Musical Matinee Club returns with Singin’ In The Rain!

Musical Matinee Club’s fabulous hostess Suzy Harvey recaps the glorious return of the disability and dementia-friendly film series

It’s official. I LOVE the Musical Matinee Club!

After a break of about two years, 160 of us came in out of the actual rain, and gathered in the auditorium to watch Singin’ In The Rain. It was a delight to see so many faces of folk who used to come, and to welcome so many new audience members.

I dressed myself as part Gene Kelly, part Debbie Reynolds, and we all sported our very own plastic rain macs (made from yellow bin bags)!

We each had a goody bag of props to use during the film, lovingly loaded by our incredible volunteers. Each time the actors tap danced on the screen, we tapped some spoons together to create the sound effects. We wore feathers in our hair, threw streamers in celebration, waved lengths of toilet paper in the air, sang out loud and danced along throughout.

Mid-film, during our dance break, we danced to Raindrops Keep Falling On My Head and It’s Raining Men and a wonderful audience member gave us a very encouraging critique and a score of 9 out of 10.

It was such a delight to be back, in the company of such committed staff and volunteers, and playful, open-hearted audience members.

Roll on 26th November for Funny Face!