Marionettes to end jubilee season with Mosaic 6

The Marionettes Chorale will be celebrating the end of it 60th anniversary, diamond jubilee season by presenting Mosaic 6: A Celebration of Opera & Broadway on July 6 and 7 at Queen’s Hall, St Ann’s.

The group will revisit some of its most iconic operatic and musical theatre performances — featuring excerpts from popular musicals Aida, Annie, and Matilda, among others; as well as substantial segments from their acclaimed productions of Les Misérables and Bizet’s Carmen, a media release said.

Showtimes for the three performances are July 6 at 7pm; July 7 at 2 pm (Sunday Matinee) and at 6 pm. Tickets are $200 (open seating), $300 (reserved) and $400 (premium reserved), and are available at marionetteschorale.com/tickets; from cast members; and at Queen’s Hall.

Caroline Taylor, assistant artistic director of the Marionettes said in the release, “For over ten years, between 1996 and 2007, among our most exciting and popular productions – outside of Christmas, of course – were our Mosaic concerts, featuring Broadway and opera. The incredible audience responses to these productions – which we staged in 1996, 1999, 2003, 2004, and 2007 – meant that we had to add extra performances in both Port of Spain and San Fernando, and repeat them…back when that was easier to do!”

She continued, “The mosaic shows were what motivated us to undertake our Cacique-winning Tributes in 2008, and then full productions of Bizet’s Carmen and then Les Misérables in 2014 and 2015.”

Over the group’s 60 years, Taylor explains, the group has been blessed to be both a platform for tremendously talented singers and performers, and a nurturing space where the young and not-so-young could explore and develop their gifts.

“Several have gone on to get advanced degrees in the performing arts – with some pursuing those dreams overseas. We’re very blessed to have been doing this for so long, and to have that kind of impact. And this production is like a mini-reunion,” Taylor said.

Mosaic 6 features a line-up of extraordinary performers, including perennial favourites like Hermina Charles and Jacqueline Johnson; the multi-talented Maegan McGrane; talented members of the Youth Chorale; and a return of the “six merry murderesses” doing the Cell Block Tango from Chicago, including Jacqueline Smith and Michelle Tardieu-Attale (who played the lead in Mamma Mia last May).

Mosaic 6 also brings together many from the casts of both Carmen and Les Misérabls , including Nigel Floyd, Candice Alcantara, Marvin Smith, Aurora Tardieu, David Stephens, Danielle Williams, Errol James, Caroline Taylor, and Nigel Pierre.

The celebrated creative team for Mosaic 6 includes Dave Williams, Noble Douglas, Dr Guyanne Wilson and Taylor on movement and staging; Margaret Sheppard and Michelle Tardieu-Attale on costumes; Randy Halfhide on sets; Celia Wells on lights; Frank Agarrat on sound; and music under the direction of Gretta Taylor, Joshua Joseph, and Dr Roger Henry.

The series is supported by Flow (Columbus Communications), Guardian Media Ltd, Scrip-J, and Music Radio 97.1fm.

For more info: 298-9089.