The Outstanding Personal Contribution award is given to a Rising Stars member who has made the biggest personal contribution to the success of Rising Stars in the previous 12 months. In a nutshell, someone who has gone above and beyond what is ordinarily expected of a member.
AND THE WINNER IS….. Emily
Emily was recognised for all the work they have done behind the scenes over the last 12 months. They took on the role of Social Media manager, regularly creating photos, videos, reels and stories to post on our social media channels. In addition, they designed and created all the publicity material, adverts and posters for The Addams Family and That’s Life.
Rising Stars held their annual awards ceremony after the last performance of The Addams Family on Saturday 25th March 2023. The first two awards were for the Most Improved Members.
It was very obvious to us right from the start that being in Rising Stars was more than just singing, dancing and putting on a show. We noticed that members grew in confidence, made new friends and developed all sorts of essential life skills, such as teamwork, interpersonal skills and management.
The Most Improved Member award is not given to the most talented cast member – although many of our previous winners have developed into great performers and taken principal roles. The award is given to the member who has shown the most improvement in some aspect of their performance skills or personality in the previous 12 months as a direct result of their involvement with Rising Stars.
There are two awards in this category – Under 13 Years & 13 years and over.
Most Improved Member – Under 13 years
AND THE WINNER IS….. Tess
Tess has performed with Rising Stars for several years, but despite having a lovely voice, she never put herself forward to her sing on her own. She had a solo line in School’s Out, but then went on to audition for (and get) the principal role of Pugsley Addams which she absolutely smashed.
Over the last 12 months, we have had great pleasure in watching her improve in confidence and performance.
Most Improved Member – 13 years and over
AND THE WINNER IS….. Olivia
Olivia first joined us for School’s Out but was initially quite shy and very nervous on stage. We have watched her grow in confidence and ability throughout the last 12 months and we particularly like the way she is in character every second that she is on stage.
Congratulations to you both. We look forward to seeing you perform in many more shows with us.
At the recent Rising Stars Awards ceremony, Long Service Award presentations were made to Francesca and Emily for appearing in 10 or more productions with Rising Stars and to Grace for reaching the milestone of 15 productions with the group.
Rising Stars graduate, Tom Holt has been cast in the London revival of the musical ‘Betty Blue Eyes’.
Tom (bottom row, second from left) played Jean Valjean in our award-winning production of Les Misérables and Fergal McFerrin III in BACK TO THE 80s, as well as appearing in two of our Summer shows.
Super-talented, dedicated and hard-working, Tom was always destined to have a successful career on the stage.
Tickets are now on sale for Rising Stars’ next fully-staged production – The Addams Family School Edition, which will haunt the stage at Beccles Public Hall & Theatre from Thursday 23rd to Saturday 25th March at 7.30pm.
Everyone’s favourite kooky family is back and they’re creepier and spookier than ever. The Addams Family is a heart-warming musical tale of love, friendship, and family… with a unique twist! Featuring lively dance routines and show stopping songs this musical comedy will entertain the whole family. Just don’t expect normal!
The Addams Family is the next fully staged show in an ever growing line of successful musical productions by the Beccles-based musical theatre group, whose previous credits have included Les Misérables, Spamalot and Legally Blonde. Although the majority of the cast are under 18, they pride themselves on bringing the high quality and professionalism that you would expect of any theatre company to all of their performances.
Tickets for The Addams Family are priced at £12.50 for adults and £10 for under 18s and can be purchased online at any time from the Beccles Public Hall Box Office using this link.
Tickets can also be purchased by visiting Beccles Public Hall Box Office in person or by telephoning 01502 770060. The Box Office is open Monday to Saturday, 10am to 3pm and accepts both debit and credit cards.
Because of their friendship, musical talent and bravery at stepping with us into the unknown, the 19 founder members of Rising Stars will always have a very special place in our hearts. The sad news that Jodie Harris has lost her 3-year battle with cancer has left us feeling absolutely devastated.
Jodie always wanted to make singing her career and she had more than enough talent to match her ambitions. As well as taking lead roles in first three shows, she had the rare ability to light up the stage whenever she appeared.
Our thoughts and prayers are with her Mum, Grandma, family and many friends.
Rest in Peace Jodie. You were and always will be a shining star x
Please be advised that the 2023 Annual General Meeting of WLOG & Rising Stars will take place at 7:30pm on Monday 13th February 2023 in the Quaker Hall, Smallgate, Beccles.
All members of Rising Stars who have paid their 50p membership fee since April 2022 (cast members of School’s Out & The Addams Family) are invited to attend, but only members who have reached their 14th birthday will be eligible to vote.
The agenda, minutes of the last AGM, some reports and other documents will be circulated in due course.
Best regards The Committees of WLOG & Rising Stars
It’s December and we’re having an Advent calendar with a difference.
This month we will be highlighting some fabulous local businesses, many of whom have supported Rising Stars in the past. They have advertised in our programmes, displayed our show posters or even donated materials for props and costumes.
They would all love your custom in the run up to Christmas so buy online when you have such a great selection on your doorstep?
Members of Rising Stars laid a wreath at the Beccles War Memorial to commemorate Remembrance Sunday.
Chairman Helen and committee cast member Fran represented the group by taking part in the annual wreath laying ceremony at the Beccles memorial.
In addition to the wreath-layers, other members of Rising Stars were at the service representing the Sea Cadets, Marine Cadets, local schools and Girl Guiding Beccles.
They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old: Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn. At the going down of the sun and in the morning We will remember them.
We had a record number of young people applying to audition for us this time and were blown away by the quality of their auditions and the talent they showed us.
This gave us a tough couple of hours deliberating, but we finally have a full cast for The Addams Family!
Congratulations to all successful candidates, and commiserations those that did not make the cast this time. It’s so sad to have to turn away talented youngsters who have put so much time and effort in auditioning. You all did yourselves proud and we would have included everyone if we could fit you all on stage and in the dressing rooms!
Rehearsals have started already and we had lots of laughs at our first script read-through for The Addams Family.
A hilarious script, fabulous music and an amazingly talented cast – we are so excited about this show!
