Author: Helen Steed
Rising Stars graduate to star in London musical
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.
Congratulations Tom, we are very proud of you.
Tickets on sale NOW for The Addams Family
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.
For further details please Contact Us
Remembering Jodie Harris 1994 – 2023
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
AGM 2023 date announced
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
An Advent calendar with a difference…
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?
Follow our daily posts on Instagram and Facebook.
You can also see all our lovely sponsors here.
Remembrance Day 2022 – Rising Stars will Never Forget….
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.
The Addams Family – we have a cast!
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!
Auditions slots available NOW for The Addams Family
We are now taking bookings for audition slots for The Addams Family
Cast auditions will be on Friday 7th and Sunday 9th October.
To book your place, please complete and return an Application to Audition form.
Audition rehearsals start next Friday evening (23rd September) from 7-9pm in the Blyburgate Hall, Beccles for anyone who would like to be in the cast as a principal and/or a company member.
Full details of Pre-audition rehearsals
Friday 23rd September, 7pm – 9pm
Company & principal audition practice / guidance
Sunday 25th September, 2pm – 4pm
Principal audition practice / guidance
Friday 30th September, 7pm – 9pm
Dance / movement workshop and Company & principal audition practice
Sunday 2nd October, 2pm – 4.30pm
Company & principal audition practice / guidance and audition techniques
(anyone auditioning for Company only may leave at 3pm if they wish)
All rehearsals are in Blyburgate Hall, Beccles.
Don’t panic if you can’t attend all the pre-audition rehearsals as the character descriptions, audition pieces and rehearsal backing tracks can be downloaded from the Rising Stars’ downloads area for you to practice at home.
We look forward to meeting you at a rehearsal and hope you take advantage of this opportunity to perform with our friendly and talented group.
Open Auditions for The Addams Family
Are you 8 to 19 years old and can sing, dance or act?
Now is your opportunity to join the award-winning Rising Stars for –
The Addams Family
To be performed in Beccles Public Hall on the 23rd – 25th March 2023
Rising Stars is looking for enthusiastic and talented singers, dancers and actors (especially boys!) to perform in this spectacular musical comedy.
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!
All existing members and anyone wishing to join Rising Stars are invited to an Information Evening at 7pm on Friday 16th September in Blyburgate Hall, Beccles, where there will be the opportunity to find out more about the show, meet the production team and get more details about how to audition to be in the cast or for a principal role.
To become an Addams Family cast member, you will need to:
- Be a student in school year 3 or above (max age 19)
- Book an audition slot by completing an Application to Audition form (available on the 16th or afterwards from our downloads page)
- Attend the auditions on Friday 7th or Sunday 9th October.
These are open auditions. ALL roles and ensemble are available for casting.
For more information on how to get involved with this exciting, friendly and award-winning group of young performers, come along to the Information Evening or contact us.
If you can’t make it to the Information Evening but are still interested in being involved with the show, just let us know and we’ll make sure all the information given out on the night is emailed to you.