Entertaining the community for over 100 years!
On Saturday the 21st of March 2009, Airdrie and Coatbridge Amateur Operatic Society brought down the curtain on 100 years of entertaining the people of Monklands with a rousing performance of Cole Porter’s ‘Anything Goes’. Reaching this impressive milestone has only been achievable through a heady mixture of hard work, loyalty and talent from the people in front and behind the proscenium arch as well as the local community who have turned out come rain, hail or shine to support the club throughout the last century. But just what has happened to get ACAOS to where they are now?
In 1909, drawing on the talents of the local choral societies and inspired by the emergence of amateur clubs of the time in Glasgow, Airdrie Amateur Operatic Society was founded with a view to producing the Gilbert and Sullivan classic ‘HMS Pinafore’. As a suitable venue could not be found in the town, Coatbridge’s Theatre Royal agreed to house the fledgling society and in 1910 the newly named Airdrie and Coatbridge Amateur Operatic Society played to sell out crowds, with standing room only reported for the final performance. And so a legacy that was to span more than a century was born, and history was completed with the move to the newly built Sir John Wilson Town Hall in 1913, an impressive theatre which was to serve as the society’s spiritual home for many years to come.
Only two World Wars have been able to break continuity as ACAOS have continued to perform to sell out audiences annually for one hundred years with the choice of shows extending beyond the roots of Gilbert and Sullivan and then beyond, making a name for ACAOS as a society that embraces the times with the foresight and confidence to reflect the changing times with regular expansions into previously unchartered waters. For the society’s 50th Anniversary, the amateur premiere of Franz Lehar’s ‘Merry Widow’ was performed. In 1969, for the Diamond Jubilee, ACAOS was only the third amateur club to perform the London smash ‘My Fair Lady’. A neat piece of symmetry was then achieved this tradition was continued in 2009 after the society secured the Scottish amateur premiere of ‘Footloose’, performed as part of the ongoing celebrations of the Centenary Year.
ACAOS continues to challenge boundaries into the new century, epitomised by the return to our cultural roots, albeit with a very different interpretation, with Gilbert and Sullivan’s ‘The Mikado’ which was performed in 2005 complete with a Gospel/Jazz/Swing slant. The movement of the club to embrace contemporary musical theatre was galvanised two years later with the arrival of the rock show ‘Return to Forbidden Planet’ and it is this investment in new ideas whilst maintaining respect for our traditional roots that encouraged the society to produce the smash hit ‘Come Fly With Me’; a show written by a group of our own members and featuring hits from across the ages of musical theatre.
Of course, no production could take place without the tireless support of a dedicated crew not to mention the innumerable people who contribute to ACAOS’ ongoing success - ACAOS is the sum of its parts and treading the boards represents only a small slice. The opportunities for getting involved on, in front or behind the stage are numerous and the extensive team that brings the end product to the public work flat out to achieve a polished finish. But all work and no play simply would not do, and It is perhaps for this reason that socialising features high on the list of priorities for a society that enjoys a steady stream of social events which are every bit as much a feature of ACAOS’ calendar as ‘opera week’ itself.
In an age of rising costs and dwindling incomes, many challenges face the society as they forge ahead into the next one hundred years. But with an extensive family and an ethic for triumph under any circumstances it is with quiet confidence that ACAOS looks to ring in the next century.
Long live Opera Week!