STOS presents ...

Sheffield Star - November 2004

"Like the heroine of this remarkable modern morality tale, Sheffield Teachers Operatic Society have taken a gamble ... and it's paid off spectacularly!

What is Viv Nicholson? She's a latter day icon, an indestructible symbol of the Have It All Sixties, as brassy as Diana Dors, as tragic as Jayne Mansfield, as dramatic as Liz Taylor, the central figure in a melodrama of her own making, fascinating, foolish and completely unforgettable.

The musical version of her rags to rags life, here directed with great flair and pace by a confident Jeremy Tustin, plays the highs and lows of that saga in a marvellous blend of cartoon strip comedy shot through with drama which makes the shifts into tragedy all the more poignant.

It's basically a one woman show but when there's so much life to live it demans two fine actresses to bring the story to life.

As the older Viv, looking back on the loves, the parties, the cash and commenting on the way that her life was transformed by teh fluke of a pools win, Judi Johnson Hart is wonderfully earthy, warm and witty, a mature voice of experience but always with the glimmer of a wild past peeking through.

And bringing that past to life, taking the stage by storm and making the night entirely her own is Stacey Sampson, raucous, vulnerable and with a voice, like Judi's that can fill the stage with raw emotion.

Among the man men in her life, only the ill-fated Keith - Martin Scattergood on comic top form and with a look of permanent confusion on his face - is any more than a passing figure of fun.

But this is Viv's show, her life, her excesses and heartbreaks and nobody is going to steal her thunder.

She says she's going to spend spend spend ... and the audience responds with cheers, cheers, cheers!"

John Highfield

Audience Feedback

"An outstanding production"

"The best musical entertainment I have seen, and the finest all round performances from all cast members"

"Thank you for an excellent night out for 4 Castlefordians to Spend Spend Spend!!! It was excellent. We'll be back next year"

Sheffield Telegraph - November 2004

"Steve Brown and Justin Greene's biographical musical based on the story of Viv Nicholson was said to be gritty and often crude. It is!

... With its frequest broad Yorkshire "bugger offs" and "bloody hells" and a number of other things that are not printable, the first night audience lapped it up.

It is largely reality, high on colloquialism, readily mixes brutality with humour, wry and the belly variety, and sentiment, all expertly balanced in Jeremy Tustin's skillful direction.

You can believe Sheffield Teachers' Operatic have enjoyed doing it. Extremely well, it should be said.

Costuming is spot on for Castleford and [Garforth] in the 1950s and '60s when most of the action takes place ...

... Stamina is required by the two Vivs who are on stage almost throughout. The present day one, the excellent Judi Johnson Hart, recalling past events as her younger self, Stacey Sampson ... very impressive. Martin Scattergood as [Keith] is fine - everyone is!"

BL

Spend Spend Spend : Sheffield Mercury - November 2004

"This has been a busy week for me but I promise you it has been worthwhile. It has been pure excellence all the way. My first visit of the week was to the Lyceum Theatre to see the Sheffield Teachers Operatic Society produciton of "Spend Spend Spend" which was attended by Viv Nicholson, about whom it was written. You would never have guessed it was an amateur performance; such was the quality of the acting. It is perhaps unfair to single out any individual performance, such was the overall magnificence of the show, but I should mention Judy Johnson Hart, playing the present day Viv and Stacey Sampson as young Viv together with Phil Brownhill as Viv's dad and man of many parts Tony Gallagher could all make as professionals. Credit also to Viv herself, who was very showbizzy, signing autographs for one and all. It is now forty three years since she uttered those immortal words Spend, Spend, Spend, yet she has remained in the public eye throughout."