BLOG: WORK EXPERIENCE WITH 'THE BAND' AT THE GRAND!

Work Experience student Mia currently trains at Birmingham Ormiston Academy (BOA) and whilst here, she got to meet cast member from The Band, Harry Fabulous Brown who also trained at BOA before working professionally! Here’s her blog post as she reflects on the week…

Work experience at Wolverhampton Grand has given me the opportunity to watch The Band, an exciting, hilarious and heart-warming musical about a group of girls reuniting to see their favourite childhood band 25 years later!

The performances of each cast member were truly brilliant, and we could see straight away from each girl what role in the friendship group they were taking on. For example, Lauren Jacobs who plays the role of Zoe, as soon as she steps on stage, we see the “Nerd” character being brought through almost instantly. Rachel Lumburg shows us all aspects of her character, and she makes the audience laugh and cry in the space of one scene. The boys, although weren’t the focal point of the show were almost always performing the whole way throughout, their singing and dancing shines through the scenes the whole show.

As I watched the Wednesday matinee performance, I had the chance to watch Harry Fabulous Brown perform with The Band. I then learnt that he attended Birmingham Ormiston Academy (BOA), which was an interesting and exciting thing for me to see as I currently attend BOA. It’s great to see someone who has also experienced the training succeed from it and has used this training to his advantage. I hope I too will be able to continue in this way too!

As I attend BOA, I have a passion for acting and musical theatre, so I have only ever seen the actual performance side of the theatre. I have previously performed at The Wolverhampton Grand, although there was no set or props backstage, so getting the opportunity to see the behind the scenes whilst The Band is at the theatre was eye-opening. It looks so different and was incredible to see how detailed all the set and props were.

I have enjoyed working in the other sides of the theatre, which is why I chose to do my work experience here. I know that I will appreciate all other aspects of the theatre other as well as the performers on stage because I have realised, they are a huge part of how the theatre is run and they have such a big role to play. I have had the opportunity to work in PR, Box Office, Events, Front of House, and more!