Rehearsals are in full swing for the most unique theatrical presentation on the Algarve this year. The Algarveans Experimental Theatre group is 25 years old in September and they wanted to stage something really special to mark this anniversary.
Pollen: The Musical was been written by Algarveans’ member, and professional musician, Ian Carfrae. The genesis of the musical started back in the days when Ian performed all over the world as part of the New Vaudeville Band with his co-writer, Bobby Hay-Smith. Ian has always enjoyed writing and arranging music and has been known to have a secret bottom drawer of songs that has never seen the light of day. Why? Ian is a perfectionist with his music and unless it is right it does not get performed.
In 1975 Ian had already written many songs when he had the idea for a musical to be set in a garden. He started developing some characters and a rough plot, wrote more songs and gave it the title Captain Blenkinsop. After writing 20 plus songs Ian eventually approached Robert in the 90s for help with developing the characters and writing dialogue.
The New Vaudeville Band had finished, Ian was now a teacher of music and leader of the Bedfordshire Youth Jazz Orchestra and so both Bobby and he took the songs and arrangements and developed a story for them to sit within. Slowly, Pollen was born. The first draft was completed in 2000.
So what has happened in the last 16 years? Well Ian and Bobby now live in totally different parts of the world, Ian here and Bobby in Indiana, USA. Bobby decided to stage a production of Pollen in the United States in the early noughties in which, unfortunately, Ian did not have verymuch input and sadly did not even see the show, apart from some very grainy video footage.
The Algarveans’ presentation of Pollen: The Musical will be a European premiere and will allow Ian to see his musical in the flesh for the first time.
This is where Chris Winstanley, the show’s director, takes up the story. “I have been directing shows for over 20 years and try to stretch myself by doing something different with each show. In April 2011 I directed my first musical and Ian appeared in the show, during rehearsals he sidled up to me and said ‘I have written a musical you know, mine is all about an enchanted garden’.”
That conversation sparked an interest in Chris to look at Ian’s musical, but he was committed to two other shows so it wasn’t until 2014 Ian and Chris finally got together on a warm Sunday morning to go through the script in detail. They both felt it needed a little tinkering with to make it an awesome opportunity for The Algarveans to perform so together they set about making some changes, and this has resulted in some new lyrics and new songs being added.
Melanie Winstanley, The Algarveans’ chairperson added, “the group is 25 years old later this year and what a fitting tribute to perform an original work, written by a member. Also, Ian reaches a significant age this year and how amazing to allow him to bring a 25-year dream to fruition”. The show will have a cast of over 25 people on stage and virtually the whole amateur group is involved on stage and backstage.
The show will be performed on October 20 to 22 at the Lagoa Auditorium at 7.45pm, with a special gala evening on the first night of the show to celebrate The Algarveans entertaining the Algarve for 25 years.
Tickets are available by email: algarveansboxoffice@gmail.com or by calling any of the following telephone numbers 913 723 611 / 282 496 635 / 966 211 634. More information regarding the special Gala performance will follow soon.
