Musical Season

The Lighthouse cinema is going all sing-a-long on us as audiences prepare for the arrival of Jersey Boys…

If the Lighthouse Cinema were a person they’d be that acquaintance who wins every time fancy dress is called for. We’ve been at enough of their trashy eighties nights – Hollywood Babylon, add it to your diaries – to understand they appreciate and excel at effort. We even made foxy efforts for their Wes Anderson party some months ago. Red Zissou hats were very welcome.

This month however, the Smithfield focal point takes a less hipster turn with their inaugural musical season. Exhibit A: a jaunty poster designed by one of our favourite illustrators, Ms Fucshia MacAree. Exhibit B: The Sound of Music.

The whole season is a celebration of the grand and colourful musicals of Golden Age Hollywood and is prompted by the release of the movie adaptation of musical Jersey Boys, one of the most well-received Broadway shows in recent years. We saw the surprisingly gritty and stylized stage show in London, and by the end the audience were genuinely dancing across aisles. The story of Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons, the band that overcame an impoverished working class background to become the American nation’s 1960s soundtrack, is set to become a celluloid masterpiece. While The Beatles had shopping mall mobs and bowl haircuts, the Four Seasons claimed first dances and had an endless collection of pretty dashing blazers.

Our choice picks for the Lighthouse musical season?

South Pacific

World War II? The pacific islands? A smalltown American nurse falling for a French ex-pat plantation owner? I’m Going To Wash That Man Right Out Of My Hair? An overall moral about not being racist? Sign us up.

The Sound of Music

Because curtain dresses and we fancied Captain Von Trapp. Also I’m Kurt, I’m 11, I’m incorrigible.

The Blues Brothers

Suit up and order toast at the bar. Act cool when they say they don’t have it.

Other movies included in the programme include Rocky Horror, Caberet, An American in Paris and family favourite Oliver!. Top hats on.?Buy tickets and read more about the screenings here.

Jeanne Sutton @jeannedesutun