Michael Reckord, Contributor
IT IS said that a popular pastime in the first half of the last century were the 'Pleasant Sunday Evening' concerts. Intimate, unsophisticated functions at which people who knew each other performed for pleasure. There was definitely that sort of atmosphere at 'Forever Yours', an evening of love, wine and fellowship presented by Mrs Dawn Bennett's Eagle Christian Theatre Troupe at the PCJ auditorium, Trafalgar Road, on Sunday evening.
None of Mrs Bennett's family, friends and church brothers and sisters, who largely made up the audience, complained when, partly because of the illness of some slated performers, the concert started about an hour later than scheduled. The late start was perhaps no problem since it meant an extension of the cocktail hour, during which non-alcoholic wine, grapes, nuts and raisins along with delicious cake were available for all who wished to partake.
Just before 8:00 p.m., the emcee, the ebullient Shermaine Barrett, offered up prayers of thanks, called for the singing of the National Anthem and introduced the first on-stage performer. He was saxophonist Warren Harris (with Endless Love), who, over the previous hour or so had been leading a trio of musicians in playing pre-concert music.
On the tiny stage, minimally decorated with a string of pepper lights, Harris delivered a soulful, well-received item. Underlining the informality of the evening was the fact that Harris was the only performer whose surname was listed in the programme.
So the next performer was identified on the programme simply as Maurice, but the emcee revealed that he was the winner of an Actor Boy award. It was Maurice Bryan who showed himself to be as good a singer as he is an actor. He received loud applause for his rendition of For You and later returned with a less-inspired item, a skit with Pearl McFarlane, another well known
thespian.
The early pieces set a pattern for the remainder of the show, a mixture of the good and the weak, the professional and the amateur. Among the better performers were dancers Philip Clarke and Tamisha Frankson, who performed modern dance items twice, singing duo Sherell and Joseph, a folk song group comprising Kerry-Ann, Sashonie (Brown) and Melissa (Gibson) and solo dancer, Aneika, and former Jamaica Folk Singer, Jasmine Ffrench.
Some 20 items were presented to the enthusiastic audience over a two-hour period in four sections, Delightful Harmony-Forever Yours, Beautiful You Are...Come Away With Me, Lion Heart... Remembers You and His Banner Over Me...Leads Me. The evening concluded with prayers led by the emcee.
Eagles Christian Theatre Troupe, founded by Mrs Bennett more than 20 years ago, occasionally produces religious plays and concerts for churches and the general public.
