CIRENCESTER Operatic Society (COS) have won an award for the musical production of Jekyll & Hyde which was performed at The Barn Theatre in Cirencester in May 2016.

The popular group received the award at an annual dinner on Saturday, March 4.

The award comes from NODA, the National Operatic and Dramatic Association and was for the Best Chorus Singing in the South West Region.

Ten members of the Society attended the dinner and the award was presented to Barry Austin, the director, and Stephanie Walsh, the chorus mistress.

Musical director, Richard Abrams, said: “The music of Jekyll & Hyde is very challenging and Stephanie and the cast worked very hard to get the harmonies and dynamics in place that this piece requires. It is an honour to have a show that I was part of recognised by our peers at NODA”.

Jekyll & Hyde was also nominated for Best Musical Production but lost out to a production of Evita.

Barry Austin said: “It was wonderful to be nominated in this category, a first for COS and for myself as a director. Looking at all the nominations in this category shows the high standards that amateur theatre is achieving in the region across different size venues, casts and types of production from the classics such as Calamity Jane to the more modern musicals such as Urinetown”.

Cirencester Operatic Society has been around since 1952 and this year will be changing their name to COS Productions.

Ian Carling, chairman, said: “At our last AGM it was discussed that the word Operatic no longer demonstrates to our potential members and audiences what we are.

"We perform Gilbert & Sullivan Operettas but also modern musicals and we wanted to reflect this in our name. Having said that COS as it is affectionaly known has a name in the town so we wanted this to carry through.

"Many new names were considered but it was a vote by our members that settled on COS Productions.”

COS Productions hopes to build on its success at the awards with their forthcoming productions of Sweet Charity in May this year, Ruddigore in October and Titanic the Musical in 2018.

  • Tickets for Sweet Charity are available at the new COS Productions website below.
  • Anyone interested in joining, whether it be on stage or off can contact the group through its new website, cosproductions.org