JMTC concert series boasts lovable performances

Marcia Rowe, Gleaner Writer

It was 11 days before Valentine's Day, but that did not prevent the Jamaica Musical Theatre Company from focusing on love in the second of their 2012-2013 concert series.

Titled 'Walk in Love', the show saw some memorable performances from Carole Reid and Friends.

The performers, mainly vocalists, used songs from romantic films and popular musicals to captivate a full house with stories of love from various perspectives.

Some stories were beautiful, inspiring, downright funny and a few were rather alarming.

Christine MacDonald-Nevers gave the most alarming but humorous perspective on love in the song To Keep Love Alive, a selection from the play Connecticut Yankee.

With paper in hand, she sang about a young woman who laments going to several weddings always as the bridesmaid.

Later in the second half, MacDonald - Nevers returned with mother Marlyn MacDonald and gave another solid performance of John Denver and Placido Domingo's song of hope and inspiration, Perhaps Love.

A show of this nature could not have been done without songs from one of Broadway's most gripping tales, Phantom of the Opera.

And so when Commander John McFarlane took the stage to recreate Andrew Lloyd Webber's Music of the Night, it was a spell-binding moment for the audience at the Alhambra Inn.

McFarlane returned for even better performances in segment two of the programme.

In his second appearance, McFarlane teamed up with Andrew Lawrence to give a free-spirited version of My Way, and with Carole Reid he made a declaration about how to love.

Reid, who was also credited for organising the programme, gave a good account of herself with a fine rendition of Love is a Many Splendored Thing.

strong performances

The brilliance of Webber was again underscored in segment two with delightful singing from Jodi HoLung and Lawrence. The two gave strong performances of All I Ask, also from Phantom of the Opera.

The two had also performed in segment one with Lawrence giving a powerful rendition of Eric Clapton's Change the World and HoLung telling Alfie that she believed in love.

The approximately two-hour long concert actually began with an instrumental selection comprising a pianist and a keyboardist, Kamla Hamilton and Yanique Leiba-Ebanks, respectively. They were followed by a promising rendition on the drums by young Brandon Goffe.

The Valentine's Day forerunner Walk in Love also saw performances from Stephanie Hazle and André Shepherd. Kerry Henry and Marlon Simms of the National Dance Theatre Company not only provided the programme with some diversity, but showed love in the dance Minutes & Seconds. The concert series will continue on the first Sunday in March.