New President of Pastiche appointed

Pastiche News

Following Pastiche’s Annual General Meeting, which was held on Wednesday 15th May, we announce the appointment of Mr Brian Coles as Pastiche’s third President.

The role of President is an honorary one and they are the titular head of the company. The position was previously held by our founding Director, Jean Hobson until her passing in March 2019. Before Jean, Pastiche’s first President was Alan Hobson.

Brian has been a member of Pastiche for many years, firstly joining us on stage and then more recently as Pastiche’s Treasurer until he stood down from the role at the Annual General Meeting.

We are pleased to announce that Michael Wright has been elected as Pastiche’s Treasurer.

All at Pastiche congratulate both Brian and Michael on their appointments.

Jean Hobson

Pastiche News

It is with great sadness that we announce the passing of Jean Hobson on 3rd March 2019.

In 1997, Jean founded Pastiche with Jean George to raise money for good causes and to have fun through performing.

Jean was Pastiche’s first Director, directing a total of 28 productions starting with The Boyfriend in 1997 until her last production at the helm (Kiss Me Kate) in 2011, before passing on the directorial baton to her daughter Roma. During that time, Pastiche raised just under £49,000 for multiple charities. Using our productions to raise money for local and national causes was a founding ethos of the company – something we as a company are very proud to continue to this day. 

Jean, along with Jean George and many other helpers, created many of our costumes during our first fifteen years. The standard of her work was often praised by not just our company and audiences but also reviewers in the local press.

Jean was a one woman recruiting team for Pastiche. She had a knack for spotting talent in individuals and getting the very best from them, often giving the individual the confidence to step foot on the stage for the first time or become involved in the theatre. It’s not an exaggeration to say that every one of us involved with Pastiche are here due to her belief in us. 

When Jean retired from the company, the number of company members (past, present and indeed future) who gathered at a surprise leaving event for her was testament to the impact she made on the local theatre scene.

Even after retiring from the Director’s chair, Jean continued to keep a close eye on things at Pastiche, succeeding her husband Alan to become President of the company. Jean provided support and inspiration to Roma during her tenure as Director and continued this when Olivia succeeded Roma as Director – something we know that Olivia has cherished. She continued to attend rehearsals and performances to see how things were going – always watching from her usual seat in the Compass auditorium. We were honoured to dedicate her usual seat to her in 2017.

All at Pastiche will miss Jean very much and will continue to ensure that her legacy of our company lives on.

We send our love and best wishes to all of Jean’s family at this time.

Pastiche enter two week countdown to a Musical Masterpiece

Charity, Musical Masterpiece, Pastiche News, Shows

Pastiche are beavering away on their upcoming production of Musical Masterpiece, which opens to the public in two weeks time (Thursday 4th October) at the Compass Theatre.

Featuring songs from famous shows and films, Musical Masterpiece features something for everything including a tribute to Musical Theatre giant Andrew Lloyd-Webber as he celebrates his 70th birthday later this year.

As always, Pastiche will be raising money for a worthy cause with our production. This time we will be donating to Meadow High School based in Hillingdon.

Meadow High School is a very large Secondary Special School that caters for pupils with complex learning needs. The school was built in 1966 for 90 pupils and 30 staff but over the years has grown to house 240 pupils and 120 staff. The school is about to have a significant rebuild to bring it up to modern specification. The money raised by Pastiche will be used to purchase equipment which cannot currently be accommodated in the old building.

Meadow is a second home to Pastiche as they very kindly provide us with rehearsal space. We are thrilled to be raising funds for this wonderful school.

Tickets are on sale now either through our own website or through the Compass Theatre Box Office

Pastiche donate almost £600 from Wild, Wild Women

Charity, Pastiche News, Shows

A cheque for £595.56 was presented by Olivia Holburd, Director of Pastiche Musical Theatre to Relate North West London. The money was raised by audiences of our recent production of Wild, Wild Women at the Compass Theatre at the end of March 2018.

Relate are delighted with the funds raised by Pastiche and offered a heartfelt ‘Thank You’ from everyone at Relate.

The amount raised during Wild, Wild Women now takes the total amount raised by Pastiche to over £57,000! We now hope to break the £58,000 barrier with our upcoming production of Musical Masterpiece at the Compass Theatre in October 2018.

Pastiche donate over £600 from Musical Milestones

Charity, Pastiche News

A cheque for £633.94 was presented by Olivia Holburd, Director of Pastiche Musical Theatre to Becky Haggar, co-founder of the Hillingdon Brain Tumour and Injury Group. The money was raised during the annual Pastiche Summer Concert ‘Musical Milestones’ held at the Compass Theatre in September 2017.

Becky was delighted with the funds raised by Pastiche and offered a heartfelt ‘Thank You’ from everyone at the Hillingdon Brain Tumour and Injury Group.

Formed in 2009, the charity’s aims are to provide active support to anyone in the Hillingdon and surrounding areas affected by any type of brain tumour or brain injury. They do this by seeking to help patients, carers, friends and family live as full a life as possible, with the best quality of life.  The charity also raises awareness in the local medical and general community of the symptoms and effects of brain tumours.

The charity takes pride in offering a unique, life-improving post-operative package for all of their members – including access to neuropsychologists, complementary therapists and all the assistance and advice they need.

The amount raised during Musical Milestones is the highest amount raised during a Summer Concert since 2010, which tops off a remarkable year for Pastiche. Both this show and ‘Hello, Dolly!’ have raised just short of £2000 for two local charities during our twentieth anniversary year.

20 days until Hello, Dolly opens at The Compass Theatre

Hello Dolly, Pastiche News, Shows

Today marks 20 days until Pastiche’s production of Hello, Dolly! opens at The Compass Theatre in Ickenham.

This production is a special one, as Pastiche marks it’s 20th birthday in 2017.

Over our 20 years we have achieved:

raised over £54,000 for local and national charities

Over 150 individual performances

Performed to over 15,000 people

Staged 38 productions at The Compass Theatre

Featured over 1000 performances from 153 individual performers

One of our company has performed in 31 of 39 of our shows!

Pastiche formed with it’s very first production in January 1997 when Jean Hobson and Jean George decided to create a one off production of Sandy Wilson’s “The Boy Friend” with the proceeds going to the British Heart Foundation, beginning a tradition of donating proceeds from our performances to local and national charities and organisations which is still proudly upheld by the company to this very day.

alan“The Boy Friend” was Pastiche’s first performance and opened at The Compass Theatre in Ickenham on Tuesday 21st January 1997. This performance was the start of a relationship with The Compass which is now twenty years old and has led to the company staging over 150 individual performances at the theatre. We will be staging our 40th production on the Compass stage in March 2017. A pretty remarkable achievement!

The success of “The Boy Friend” encouraged the company to stage another production, which it did with “Salad Days” in 1998. We staged our first concert “Showstoppers” in the summer of 1998 and ever since, we have staged a full musical and a concert each year.

about-2In the first fifteen years of its existence, Pastiche raised an incredible £50,000 for over thirty different organisations and charities based locally and nationally – supporting causes from Alzheimer’s to Great Ormond Street. We choose the organisations we raise funds for as a group and in most cases, the organisations are close to one or several of our member’s hearts. We are hoping that in 2017, our 20th year, we will break the £55,000 barrier.

about-4Pastiche prides itself on being a friendly group with a strong sense of fun and support for each other. Approximately 20% of our membership have been with the company since day one and at present we have not only families with two generations involved we even have three generations of one family as part of the group! Several of our members joined when they were children and have grown up with the company in some cases going on to study musical theatre or performing arts at college or university.

Tickets are starting to sell fast so book now to avoid disappointment!!

30 days until Hello, Dolly! opens

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Today marks 30 days until Pastiche’s production of Hello, Dolly opens at the Compass Theatre in Ickenham.

The cast have hit a major milestone with the completion of staging the show and are now in run throughs to polish and perfect our show ready for our audiences.

Tickets are starting to sell fast so book now to avoid disappointment!!

40 days until the first performance of Hello, Dolly!

Charity, Hello Dolly, Pastiche News, Shows

With now just 40 days until Pastiche Musical Theatre’s first performance of Hello, Dolly! – we thought we would tell you a little bit more about our chosen charity who will benefit from our production, the wonderful Michael Sobell Hospice in Northwood.

Hello, Dolly is Pastiche’s 40th production and celebrates Pastiche’s 20th birthday. By wonderful coincidence, the Michael Sobell Hospice is celebrating it’s 40th birthday.

Our production will be raising funds for the Parent and Family Support team based at the hospice. This fundraising compliments the fundraising the hospice are doing whilst marking their 40th anniversary.

The patient and family support team helps with psychological and social difficulties, and is made up of a social work team manager, four part time palliative care counsellors, a creative therapies art leader and twelve bereavement counsellors.

Over the years, the hospice and it’s wonderful team of staff have helped thousands of families in the local area come to terms with the end of loved ones lives.

One such family is that of our Musical Director, Dan. In 2011, he and his family lost his Grandfather after a battle with cancer. As Dan says:

I am incredibly proud that our production of Hello, Dolly will be raising money for this amazing hospice to ensure that other families and loved ones receive the same care, compassion and support that my family received when we needed it most.

My Grandad went to Michael Sobell for the last few weeks of his life having been cared for at home. Understandably, this was a sad, distressing and difficult time for the whole family. It was extremely difficult for my grandmother and also for my father and aunts as we prepared to say goodbye to a much loved husband, father and grandfather.

The staff at the hospice were just sensational. During the last days of grandad’s life, they gave him the very best care to ensure that his passing was dignified, peaceful and most importantly, the way in which he wished it to eventually happen.

As well as supporting Grandad during his final days, the staff and the hospice were equally supportive of my family as they prepared to say goodbye to Grandad and immediately after we lost him. I know just how much my Dad valued their support and care and to this day remains so incredibly grateful to them for everything they did.

Losing a member of your family is one of the toughest things you ever face. The staff at Michael Sobell went above and beyond the call of duty to look after and support not just Grandad, but all of his family during this incredibly sad time in our lives.

Pastiche are thrilled to be raising money for such a worthy organisation. Tickets are on sale now for our production both at The Compass Theatre’s Box Office and through our own Box Office.