At the start of the year Enter CIC confirmed that The Wind Road Boys would be returning to the stage at the Gala Theatre, Durham. After the success of the Sunderland Empire show 
in August 2012 our young people were excited and very keen to get started with rehearsals.
Although this is the same show there were different elements to the script with new scenes being added and adapted and even a new song to accompany the 14 anthem style songs already in the show.
Preparations began in January for our cast of over 100 and our young people worked extremely hard to achieve a greater response than the Empire performance.
Two weeks before the first show at the Gala Theatre our young people were joined by a professional cast with Glen Joseph (Buddy in Buddy the Musical), Laurie Scarth (Hairspray, Sister Act), Rob Eyles (Dreamboats & Petticoats), Georgia Whyte (Mountview Theatre Arts) and Jonny Landels (Richard Burton Theatre Company) The young people were fantastic in welcoming them to Enter CIC and couldn’t wait to start working with them.
The new cast immediately commented on how professional our young people are and were completely blown away by their talent. The professionals knew they were working with special performers and felt they had to raise their game. In interviews with TV and radio the stars commented on how some of our young people should be performing in the West End!
Once again our students were delighted to work with Northern Acchord (also known as Tees Valley Barbershop Harmony Club) Northern Acchord members joined the rehearsals on a number of occasions and were delighted to work with Enter CIC again.
A truly uplifting and emotional experience for all of the members of Northern Acchord who were`Proud` to share the stage with some very talented young stars of the future. You never cease to amaze us with your abilities. Keep up the good work.”
Dave Tyson, chair Northern Acchord
It is a fantastic achievement to put this show on the stage in two weeks. Many youth groups put on licensed productions but what makes ours so unique is that this production is our own in house script and music, written especially for the young people at Enter CIC.
This performance was also a fantastic opportunity for our Arts Award students to work towards their gold awards. The students interested in media documented the rehearsals and even got involved with props, costumes and technical theatre. Sean Major (pictured right), studying an Arts Award with us ran the sound for the whole show, which is a job usually done by a theatre sound technician. Another student Liam Fellows, assisting with backstage operations found himself getting involved with stage management. They did a fantastic job and we are delighted that we can rely on our own in house production team.
It was also a great opportunity for Enter student Cameron Gough to be involved with costumes. Assisted by Lauren Dickinson (currently on work experience with Enter CIC) they both provided the whole cast with the costumes for the show, in some cases they have made new costumes using a sewing machine and left over material from other costumes and props. Cameron has recently been to the West End to work on costume for Spamalot and for Matthew Bourne’s Sleeping Beauty at Newcastle’s Theatre Royal. His passion for costume has led to him being asked to tour with Wicked the musical with their costume department.
We are very proud of everyone involved with Enter CIC and as they proved at the Gala Theatre performance our young people are simply the best.
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