Enter Tessa & David
After the success of The Boy Friend, the company was approached by choreographer David Street and costume designer Tessa Davies, who wanted to put on "La Cage aux Folles" under the umbrella of New Empire Players. Both had put the show on before with other companies, and felt that the Players would be the perfect company to put it on.
Since then, Julie, David and Tessa have become firm friends, and work together on every show the Players have produced, sharing a mutual respect and a unique understanding of how each other works. The success of the New Empire Players is very much down to the hard work, planning and commitment that these three people put in to each production.
"La Cage aux Folles" appeared in February 2001, this time with a full orchestra and a cast three times the size of The Boy Friend. Open auditions were held and the leads, Georges and Albin, were played by Paul Wharton and Ben Gaston. A selection of men from the Players donned dresses, heels and makeup and took to the stage as Cagelles.
The atmosphere backstage was brilliant, every night of the performance there were various things going on after the show, on the Saturday night the aftershow party was held in the main auditorium, where a 'giant' karaoke session took place using the theatre's sound system! The after-show social activities have now become a regular part of the Empire Players' calendar and are as much a part of the show week as the performance itself.
This larger scale production was attended by almost double the audience of The Boyfriend, and put the Empire Players up to the same level as the other major societies in the town, gaining recognition and a reputation for high quality productions. Many of the cast had never danced before, the show was a real learning curve with so many people achieving so much.
The atmosphere backstage was brilliant, every night of the performance there were various things going on after the show, on the Saturday night the aftershow party was held in the main auditorium, where a 'giant' karaoke session took place using the theatre's sound system! The after-show social activities have now become a regular part of the Empire Players' calendar and are as much a part of the show week as the performance itself.
This larger scale production was attended by almost double the audience of The Boyfriend, and put the Empire Players up to the same level as the other major societies in the town, gaining recognition and a reputation for high quality productions. Many of the cast had never danced before, the show was a real learning curve with so many people achieving so much.