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About The ShowThe Rat-CatcherThe idea for The Rat-Catcher came many years ago when a close friend of mine, Rupert Rushbrooke, showed me a delightful poem he had written called The Music Teacher, which was based on the story of the Pied Piper of Hamelin, and we toyed with the idea of my setting the poem to music. In the end, that idea never came to fruition, but the idea of setting the Pied Piper story to music stuck with me, and The Rat-Catcher is the result. Written specifically for performance by children, The Rat-Catcher takes great liberties with the original story: a greedy, scheming Mayor conspires with the evil Rat-Catcher to hold the children of the town to ransom, and their plot is only foiled at the last moment by the magical powers of Johann, the children's music teacher. The musical has a lively mixture of humour, drama and pathos, and a pot-pourri of musical styles from G&S to Grease and jazz to music-hall. There are numerous catchy numbers that you'll be singing along in your head for weeks! The show is entirely sung-through: there is no dialogue. I think this makes for much more convincing theatre, and also makes it easier for the children to learn. But that doesn't mean it's just a string of songs - far from it: the show is full of opportunities for character acting, drama and choreography. The first performanceThe first performance of the show was held in November 2009, and was performed by a hugely talented group of children from the Hindhead Music Centre, directed by Edward Reeves and Jenny Randall. The experience gained was hugely helpful in putting the final touches to the published version and I'm immensely grateful to all those involved. Video clips from this performance are available here, and still photographs are available from Phil O'Connor Photography Limited. Mike Hughes-ChamberlainMike is known as a composer mainly for the elegant and tuneful music he writes for the well-known e-cards of Jacquie Lawson (www.jacquielawson.com). Mike read Music at Oxford, and now lives in Devon with his wife Morag and two teenage children.
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