ABOUT ANDOVER MUSICAL THEATRE COMPANYHistorical records show that Andover Operatic Society was first established in the 1890s, although we have little information about the society at that time. The society as we now know it was officially founded in 1963 by Brenda Jeffery-Machin and friends. As well as performing the old Gilbert & Sullivan standards, the group also performed shows ranging from Carmen and Brigadoon to Kismet and Oklahoma!
The 1990’s saw the Society enter a turbulent period in its history, particularly while the former Cricklade Theatre was closed for refurbishment. 1995 saw a slight change to the name, adding ‘musical’ to reflect the diversity of the shows being performed at that time. The society was fortunate to have a number of passionate people on the committee at that time, including Tony Broad, Phil Keates and Sue Parker as Chair and John Parker as Treasurer. Their dedication ensured that the society survived through that difficult time to perform in the newly renamed theatre, The Lights. The new-look theatre brought about a renewed society. In 2007, Sue and John Parker took up new positions as President and Vice-President, whilst the AMOS committee underwent a major restructure, identifying a number of key positions with specific responsibilities. With a new committee at the helm, led by Carol Robinson as Chair, the society performed a number of shows it had never performed before such as Thoroughly Modern Millie, Scrooge, Calamity Jane and Jekyll & Hyde, all of which were nominated for Curtain Call Awards by the Southern Daily Echo. In 2011, after much deliberation, the committee proposed to change the name of the group again. The results of a wide ranging membership survey raised concerns over the public perceptions of the group and suggested the word ‘operatic’ may put off a wider audience and potential new members. The members voted unanimously and the name was changed to Andover Musical Theatre Company. At this point, an application was made and granted by The Charity Commission for the company to become a registered charity. Since rebranding, the company has continued its development. The first major change to take place was the decision, in 2012, to move rehearsals from our long established premises at St Michaels Church Hall, to The Lights. This was a big, but a very exciting, step as it is very rare for a group of our kind to take up a residency in a working theatre! Around this time, the committee also made a conscious decision to perform shows that included parts for children such as The King and I, The Sound of Music and Annie. This type of show had been missing from our repertoire and it was felt that such shows would help broaden our audience and encourage new members. In 2016, this concept was taken one step further when the committee greenlit the creation of our youth group, AMTC Starlights. Starlights performed a successful run of Joseph and his Amazing Technicolour Dreamcoat for their inaugural production. With such a sustained period of change, the decision was made to celebrate our 50th anniversary, in 2013, with a production of The Pirates of Penzance. The company had not performed a Gilbert & Sullivan operetta for over ten years and Pirates for almost twenty. It was the perfect opportunity to embrace our heritage and invite our members, past and present, to celebrate the occasion. The show was a great success…as was the party! Since our 50th anniversary, AMTC has continued to tread new ground and is always looking for ways to move forward. We continue to perform shows we have never done before and AMTC Starlights is going from strength to strength. Our progress took another leap forward in 2019 with the development of AMTC Cabaristas. "Cabs" is our new cabaret style concert group that aims to take our talent to new venues around Andover and hopefully find audiences that we may not have reached performing at The Lights. With some early successes already under our belt, we believe AMTC Cabaristas will only get bigger and better. New members are always welcome at AMTC, as are willing helpers behind the scenes. We pride ourselves on being a company with a great community spirit, who go the extra step whenever we can. Most of our productions include sets and costumes that are made by our members and supporters and all of our programmes and marketing materials are designed in house. We are a dedicated group with a passion to put on the best show we possibly can. There really is something for everybody at Andover Musical Theatre Company, so get in touch and become a part of our rich history…what are you waiting for? The evolution of the Company's logo
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The Lights, West Street, Andover, Hampshire, SP10 1AH | [email protected] |
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