Our History

MPO Musical Theatre is an amateur, self-funding company dedicated to musical theatre. During our 33-year history we have gradually evolved from performing Gilbert & Sullivan (we have done every piece at least once), to the best of Broadway and West End musicals. We have also performed 3 original shows written by our member Neil Edwards. We regularly win awards for our performances, our sets and the way we transform our village hall into a theatre every year.

The company has evolved from a group of local residents putting on shows for charity, with minimal staging and a piano accompaniment, to a 35-strong company performing with full staging, lights and an orchestra – all local and mainly amateur. Some of our founder members are still with us.

Every year we completely transform the Milborne Port village hall. Apart from building and painting an elaborate set, we also install raised seating. This is done over the Easter Weekend. Everything is dismantled after the last performance the following Saturday, and the hall returned to its normal immaculate state before everyone goes home.

The Witches of Eastwick 2025

Our 2025 took us into new territory with the sexy, adult-themed "The Witches of Eastwick" by John Dempsey and Dana Rowe, based on the Hollywood film with Jack Nicholson, Susan Sarandon, Cher, and Michelle Pfeiffer. Funny, tuneful devilishly clever. Directed by Karen Pankhurst, with Musical Direction by Caroline D'Cruz.

Post Covid -  A New Era

By 2019 we were on a high. But then, with our next show, "The Arcadians",  an unjustly neglected Edwardian musical by Lionel Monckton, almost ready to perform, Covid struck, closing down all theatres. Rather than waste a years' work, we staged a simplified concert version with no sets and only the principals  costumed in September 2021.

In 2022, we performed another successful production of "The Merry Widow", directed by Chris Bailward and choreographed by Naomi Booth.

By 2023 we were at a crossroads. Which way to go? G&S? Light opera? Musical comedy? Our coffers were depleted thanks to Covid, and it was impossible to justify the huge expense of performance licences. Royalty-free G&S looked increasingly tempting.

But then Karen Pankhurst, who had excelled as gangster's moll Bonnie in Anything Goes, came up with an idea for a compilation show of numbers from well-known musicals.

She cleverly wove an amusing narrative about an ignorant hall cleaner barging into a rehearsal and being converted into a musical fan by the ensuing performance. The show was entitled "Everything Goes" and it proved beyond doubt that, under her direction,  MPO could perform big musical numbers as well as any other company. The show was a great success and won us many new audience members and converts from people who had previously thought we only performed G&S.

We continued in this direction in 2024 with a production of the little-known Broadway comedy musical "The Drowsy Chaperone" "Drowsy" is an American euphemism for drunk and the musical concerns the chaotic efforts of the said chaperone to keep a bride and bridegroom apart on the eve of their wedding. This hilarious show, our first with amplified sound, which won great critical acclaim, was directed by Karen Pankhurst, who triggered some soul-searching and the decision to subtly change our name to MPO Music Theatre to accurately reflect where our ambitions and our future lie. We emphasise this does not preclude a return to other genres in the future.

The Company Matures

In 2006 Caroline D'Cruz arrived as a  Musical Director , ushering a new era of innovation, creativity, professionalism  and progress, in which we revolutionised our publicity and box office organisation, won several awards and improved our finances,

The 2006 show was "The Gondoliers", produced by Geoff Allan and choreographed by Naomi Booth.

In 2007 we staged a new work by one of our members, Neil Edwards. "The Lost Continent" was the first of what became a trilogy by Neil – "The Murder at Shakerley House" (2010) and "Spring Fate" (2015), all set in the Edwardian era, with madcap plots, eccentric characters and some great music, adapted from forgotten composers from that era – Ivan Caryll and Lionel Monckton. All were immensely enjoyable, and popular with audiences and performers alike.

During this period MPO enjoyed considerable box office success and critical acclaim, which had a positive effect on our bank balance.

After successful productions of "Ruddigore" (2008), "The Mikado" (2009) and "HMS Pinafore" (2011) we continued to broaden our repertoire and perform the  West End musical "Follow That Girl", by Julian Slade and Dorothy Reynolds,  directed by Jessie Stones, which was nominated for 3 Somerset fellowship of Drama awards.

2013 saw the return of "Iolanthe", which carried off several Awards. This was followed by the only G&S operetta which we had not performed," Utopia Ltd", shortened,  re-written and simplified by  Geoff Allan and Neil Edwards, which also carried off an award from the Somerset Fellowship of Drama.

Linda Mumford returned to direct her own adaptation of  "The Sorcerer",  merged with "The Zoo" (a short piece by Arthur Sullivan and  Bolton Rowe.) The production was set in Milborne Port at the dawn of the rock'n'roll era in the 1950s' and was very successful, winning 3 awards.

"The Sorcerer" saw the introduction of our on line booking system, which completely changed our finances by guaranteeing virtually full houses and an absence of "no shows".

Coupled with this, we became one of the first amateur companies in Somerset to use imaginative and innovative video publicity trailers, starting with Spring Fate in 2015 and continuing ever since. You can see these on YouTube.

This decade finished with two more innovations – a stylish staging of "Into the Woods" by Stephen Sondheim, directed by Candice Marcus, an ambitious and complicated show which played to full houses and critical acclaim.

We made a temporary swerve into comedy in 2017. The Questors Theatre, Ealing, staged another World Coarse Acting Competition (based on the late Michael Green's book "The Art of Coarse Acting"), and we were invited to compete. Neil Edwards compressed "The Murder at Shakerley House" into a 15-minute mini operetta and choreographed it, with Richard Gaunt directing the "Coarse" bits. The evening, judged by Timothy West, was great fun, and to our surprise and delight, we won the coveted chamber pot trophy. Richard Gaunt, an ex-Questors actor, has been in the cast of four wins out of the five Coarse Acting championships staged at Ealing.  Our entry was re-adapted by Neil into a longer piece and coupled with "Trial by Jury" for our 2018 show.

This period ended with Covid, which put a temporary end to our activities. But before it struck we performed the Broadway blockbuster "Anything Goes". Directed by the triumvirate of Jessie Stones, Allison Gosney and Naomi Booth. Breaking all the rules, we performed this in a 3-sided arena in the village hall.  Matt Baker scooped up an award for his performances and we also received awards for our innovative and imaginative (not to mention highly skilled) set building.

Into The 21st Century

The year 2000 saw the building of a proper stage with a proscenium and backstage facilities, the acquisition of proper lighting and the emergence of Geoff Allan as a talented musical director for "The Sorcerer".

In 2001 we branched away from G&S and performed" Pink Champagne", a version of "Die Fledermaus", our first production on the new stage, directed by Naomi Thorp and Sue Wales.

In 2002 Candice Marcus directed "Princess Ida", with Geoff Allan as MD, who introduced a proper orchestra for the first time. Another innovation was raised seating, which allowed the entire audience an uninterrupted view of the increasingly ambitious set. The following year Candice returned with another production of "Pirates of Penzance".

2004 saw the return of Chris Bailward to the director's chair, with a sparking production of Franz Lehar's "The Merry Widow", another innovation with a dedicated choreographer, Naomi Booth. A new MD, John Turner, conjured up a 12 piece orchestra to produce a beautiful sound.

In 2005 it was the Turn of the "Grand Duke" to take the stage, directed by Chris Bailward, allowing MPO to claim that it had performed every G&S operetta bar one (Utopia Ltd).

The Early days

Charity shows in the village hall. Gilbert & Sullivan was the obvious choice – copyright-free, beautiful 4-part harmonies, stirring music and amusing plots. The first show, "Trial by Jury" was such a success that everyone decided to form a group to continue the idea. "HMS Pinafore" and "Iolanthe" came next, followed by "Pirates of Penzance", in 1993, performed on a raised stage (the previous shows were performed on the village hall floor.)

We were led by Peter and Linda Mumford. Linda has directed many successful shows and Peter has been a frequent and popular musical director.

Another distinguished director of this period was Chris Bailward (Mikado, Iolanthe and the Sorcerer).

Our Awards

Somerset Fellowship of Drama David Beach Awards

2011  HMS Pinafore- Best set
2103  Iolanthe – Best Chorus, also Challenge Trophy (for the way we transform the hall)
2014  Utopia Limited – Show Stopper Award for best musical number
2015 Spring Fate – Challenge Trophy for the total production – writing, directing, performances, music and the village Hall transformation
2016  The Sorcerer 5 nominations, including Best leading Man and "Show Stopper" We won 3
2019 Anything Goes. Matthew Baker – Best Supporting Actor, Best-made set