Review: The Golden Age of Hollywood at Chester Cathedral

Phrases: Paul Crofts

For a lot of, the golden age of Hollywood is outlined by the glittering, big-budget musicals which have been produced by the well-known studios of the day like  Disney, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, Common, Warner Bros and twentieth Century Fox.

The soundtracks to films like Ben Hur, Mary Poppins, South Pacific, The Good, the Dangerous and the Ugly and The Nice Escape have been carried out by large-scale studio orchestras that includes the highest flight musicians of the day, producing some iconic moments and pure film magic.

When the south west-based Fulltone Orchestra, a modern-day successor to these large-scale orchestras, visited Chester Cathedral lately as a part of a UK tour, We Are Chester’s Paul Crofts was delighted to be invited alongside for a night which celebrated The Golden Age of Hollywood.

That includes no fewer than 50 musicians and star singers Jemma Brown and Edward Kerr, The Fulltone Orchestra, underneath the baton of charismatic conductor and founder Anthony Brown, took the viewers on a spectacular journey by a few of the best-loved movie scores from some iconic films and movie musicals.

Beginning with the majestic prelude from Ben Hur, the wonderful sound of the total orchestra filling the cavernous cathedral, different highlights of the primary half of the live performance included The Adventures of Robin Hood, Dance of Cuckoos, higher referred to as the Laurel and Hardy theme, and a merely lovely association of Some Enchanted Night with some attractive vocals from Edward Kerr.

The majestic sweeping strings of The Large Nation, traditional Western The Good, the Dangerous and the Ugly (together with the well-known whistling) adopted, plus a show-stopping efficiency of Don’t Rain on My Parade from Humorous Woman, with the beautiful vocals of Jemma Brown giving Barbra Streisand a run for her cash. 

Absolutely the standout of the primary half for me was the overture from certainly one of my all-time favorite film musicals – Mary Poppins.

The well-known toe tapping tunes from 1964 Disney movie, with music and lyrics by The Sherman Brothers, have been expertly recreated by the excellent musicians of The Fulltone Orchestra and I confess that I could have had one thing in my eye throughout Feed The Birds. Merely magical. 

The second half of this homage to the golden age of Hollywood began in grand model, taking us to Oklahoma with Rodgers and Hammerstein’s elegant rating.

The hauntingly lovely  Pure Creativeness from Willy Wonka and The Chocolate Manufacturing unit, flawlessly sung by Edward Kerr, and Diamonds are a Woman’s Greatest Pal from Breakfast at Tiffany’s, adopted as Jemma Brown evoked Marilyn Monroe herself with a barnstorming model of the Hollywood traditional. 

Different highlights included the mighty theme from Lawrence of Arabia, the long-lasting theme from The Nice Escape, while the music of James Bond was represented by Lional Bart’s lovely association of From Russia With Love.

My stand out from the second half must be the fabulous Trolley Music, with Jemma Brown’s highly effective vocals proving a spotlight of the night.

Throughout a night of glittering leisure that includes musicians on the high of their sport and two extraordinarily gifted singers all underneath the management of Anthony Brown, The Fulltone Orchestra demonstrated why they’re completely worthy successors to the large-scale studio orchestras of yesteryear. I sincerely hope they are going to return to Chester once more someday to sprinkle just a bit extra Hollywood magic round.

We give The Fulltone Orchestra and The Golden Age of Hollywood an Oscar successful

⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐

Paul Crofts 2025.