The months of practice and hard work have paid off for a talented group of performers from Medway after a knock out performance has secured them a coveted place in the final of the Jack Petchey Foundation Glee Club Challenge.
The 18 students, who all attend part-time theatre school Razzamataz Medway, performed a musical theatre piece to the popular show Rent as well as a Beyonce mash up to showcase their street dance and commercial skills.
Ranging in age from 12 to 18, the students secured their place at the Grand Final on March 20th at London’s O2 Centre after winning the regional final at The Stag Theatre. Now in its fifth year, the search for the best Glee Club has seen more than 2,500 young people take part in the competition and attend boot camps run by industry professionals.
Prior to the audition, the students attended boot camps to hone their performance ready for the big show competition. The movement coach, Sam Spencer-Lane, has choreographed West End shows and was the Head of Dance and Movement at Mountview Academy of Theatre Arts for ten years. Phil Dale, the performance coach, has been involved with the Jack Petchey Glee Club Challenge from the start and played an integral part in setting it up and Rob Archibald is the the vocal coach who is currently Head of Musical Theatre at the Urdang Academy as well as appearing in many West End shows.
Rob also works with many pop artist and professional singers across the UK and was so impressed with the standard at Razzamataz, that he offered three of the Senior students free auditions to attend the Urdang Academy.
Robson Broad, has been a student at Razzamataz Medway for the last 6 years and was one of the boys selected by Rob to audition for Urdang. “The boot camps were an amazing opportunity to be seen by such high profile industry professionals and has given me the chance to audition for Urdang, which helps me get another step closer to reaching my goals of being a professional performer,” says Robson. “Razzamataz has really inspired and supported me to believe in myself and go for it and has given me loads of amazing opportunities from performing on a West End stage to being trained by performers who are at the top of their careers.”
The judges at the regional final were Melanie Bright who played Fontaine in Les Miserables as well as appearing in
We Will Rock You and Craig Mather who played Marius in Les Miserables.
Out of 34 schools who made it through to the regional finals, only 12 were selected for the grand finale.
Razzamataz Medway creates ‘triple threat performers’ meaning students leave being skilled in dance, drama and singing. During their time at Razzamataz, they will cover lots of different genres from classic West End musical theatre through to acting for camera, street dance and pop singing.
As well as students who want to go on and perform professionally, many are involved for fun, fitness and to give them a real focus every weekend.
Razz Medway are extremely proud of their seniors on this fantastic achievement! Best of Luck Seniors!
