When Toccata brought fun and music with those favourite hits
View(s):If Wizard Entertainment promised three extravagant nights, they delivered more than what was promised. Toccata Musical Productions delighted audiences at the BMICH last month with “Best of West End and Broadway: hits from the musicals that we all know and love” and “Sounds of Nostalgia: Classic, Pop, Rock and Country hits”.
Power singing: Fiona Keegan and David Booth (left) and (above) : A bit of boogie from the dancers
The productions were of a size Sri Lanka has not often experienced, with the full cast on stage numbering nearly 70, including soloist performers from London’s West End, a choir, dancers and live band.
The whole show was characterised by such fun and ease as is unfamiliar to a Colombo audience. Each of the soloists, all professionals, Fiona Keegan, Katie McHardy, Mary Loughran, Charlie Vose, Gareth McGreevy, Alison Arnopp, David Booth and Sunil Paulraj, were evidently fully in control of their performances. Keegan surprised us with the mature subtlety of her singing, while Loughran and Vose (in a well-matched duet as well as solos) demonstrated such sincere emotion and familiarity with the boards in their performance that could not but lift the audience with them. McGreevy’s mellow baritone was something magical in his gentle approach to the music. It was a hard task for our Natasha Rathnayake to match up to these artists, but despite some unease on stage, one must applaud her brave performance.
Yet the applause, it seemed, was not so forthcoming. Whether it was the incongruity of sitting at conference desks to see a Broadway/pop show 
or simply a cautiousness in showing appreciation one may never tell. Toccata’s attempts to entice the house to loosen up seemed not to be as successful as they planned.
The performers, nevertheless, had a ball. The dancers boogied, tapped and hip-hopped through the two-plus hours jam packed with good music and flashing lights while the band simply jammed through in such fun, often taking some moments to appreciate Andy Robinson as he ripped steel and Adolfredo Pulido as he slapped his bass. And through the whole performance, Judith Sheridan reigned supreme. Draped demurely in a black shalwar, she raised the ensembles to a frenzy and then tamed them all, with a simple flick of her wrist or a flutter of her fingers.
Such diverse talents, ease and good communication on stage is rarely seen in Colombo, and for the joy of this experience, we thank Wizard Entertainment and Toccata Musical Productions and say “Encore! Encore!”
-Namali Premawardhana