LPOS Musical Productions are delighted to be the first show back at Littlehampton’s Windmill Entertainment Centre following the fire last August.
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00:00 Good morning, my name is Phil Hewitt, Group Arts Editor for Sussex Newspapers, and I'm
00:06 lovely to speak to David Upcroft. And it's an exciting time, isn't it, for Elphos Musical
00:10 Productions in Middlehampton, because you are the first production back in the Windmill
00:15 Entertainment Centre after the fire last August. It must be lovely to be the first show back.
00:21 You've waited a time for this.
00:23 Yeah, it's been a long time. So Elphos ourselves, we've waited a year. So our last show was
00:31 April 2023, Me and My Girl. We were a year on from our last show. Understandably, you
00:39 know, we couldn't get in in the interim for our October show. So yeah, we're really excited.
00:45 It sounds like a full understanding for why the wait was so long, but it must be frustrating
00:50 for a company not to perform. You had to postpone a show last autumn, which you'll do again
00:55 this autumn, or do for the first time rather this autumn. So it's going to be great to
01:00 be back.
01:01 It will be great. Yeah, exactly. We're a registered charity. We do a lot of, you know, we worked
01:06 really hard about breaking down barriers and bringing theatre as an inclusive option for
01:10 people who maybe don't have opportunities to go elsewhere, to kind of introduce them
01:15 to the benefits of theatre for their physical health, mental health. That's a lot of what
01:18 we do. So it's been difficult for us. You know, the loss of income has been really hard,
01:24 but you know, we've managed to kind of just about get through. And we're really excited.
01:28 We really are.
01:29 So why is the Pyjama Game the right show to come back with?
01:35 So I think there's a real place for it in current times. It's funny, which is always
01:41 helpful. You know, there's lightheartedness, there's beautiful music in it, there's amazing
01:46 songs throughout and songs that you'll know and you'll recognise, but just not necessarily
01:50 know that this is where they come from. So some great songs in there, some great dance,
01:54 great music. But right at the heart of it, right at the heart of everything is this kind
02:00 of tension and battle between the people and the management and what it means to potentially
02:04 go on strike, which, you know, we see very prominently in society around us right now,
02:10 the power that people actually can hold and what that means and the tension behind that
02:15 and why you get driven to that point. So yeah, for us, I think actually there's a little
02:21 bit of a kind of play on our current state as a society.
02:25 It's got a real resonance, doesn't it, really?
02:27 Yeah, I think so. I do think so. And I think that was a real part of our choice towards
02:33 bringing the show back around. You know, it's not one of the biggest, not one of the ones
02:38 that people will necessarily know very, very well.
02:40 But with some fabulous game numbers.
02:43 Yeah, absolutely. You know, some great big numbers, Steam Heat, Once a Year Day, Seven
02:48 and a Half Cents. There's some great songs in there that people will know, they just
02:52 won't know that this is where it comes from.
02:53 Brilliant. Well, congratulations on your return. Good to have you back and lovely to speak
02:57 to you. Hope it goes brilliantly.
02:58 Yeah.
02:59 Thank you.
03:00 Thanks so much, Phil.
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