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Harlequin Productions’ 24-Hour Musical raises £13,100 for two Aberdeen charities

harlequin productions aberdeen 24 Hour Musical
Harlequin Productions will stage its third 24 Hour Musical in 2024. Image: Harlequin Productions, Facebook.

While Aberdeen’s Harlequin Productions sang about working 9 to 5, it took the team 24 hours to stage the famous musical.

But the company’s director Stuart Mearns says it was all worth it – the group managed to raise more than £13,000 for two local charities.

The concept of Harlequin Productions’s 24-Hour Musical is simple – announce you’re doing a musical and then bring the curtain up on the production 24 hours later.

The clock started ticking on Friday night (January 27) when the cast and crew found out they were tasked with staging the popular 9 to 5 the Musical.

“Luckily I have seen the show before,” said Stuart.

“It’s a very long first act so it was tough but everyone rose to the occasion and it was great fun.

“The best thing for me, as always, was the full-capacity audience at The Tivoli. As soon as we revealed what the show was going to be… the atmosphere was electric. It really was incredible and 9 to 5 the Musical is definitely a crowd-pleaser.”

harlequin productions school of rock
Stuart Mearns of Harlequin Productions. Image: Darrell Benns/ DC Thomson.

Supporting two charities

This year, in addition to seasoned actors, there were also two complete beginners on the Tivoli stage from the charities who benefited – Steve Johnson, board trustee and non-executive director at Mental Health Aberdeen, and Annah Cargill, cancer support specialist at Maggie’s Centre.

Stuart said: “They were fantastic. They both absolutely loved it and threw themselves into it. We made sure we found them some small roles so that they had some speaking parts as well.

“By the end of it, when you saw them on stage, it really felt like they were doing it for years.”

Stuart said that staging a full-on musical in 24 hours is a unique but also very draining experience. From learning lines and rehearsing song and dance numbers to sourcing costumes and making sure everything works backstage too, it’s easy to “feel like you’ve hit a brick wall”.

Harlequin Productions rehearsing 9 to 5 the Musical in Aberdeen. Image: Harlequin Productions.

Bringing back 24-Hour Musical

While they were all exhausted, Stuart and his team also found the whole experience rewarding – so much so that Harlequin Productions announced the 24-Hour Musical would return next year (Saturday January 20, The Tivoli).

Stuart said: “When you see the audience reaction and you see the sums of money we raised for charities… it’s just something we love to be able to do and other people benefit from it too – so it’s a no-brainer.”

This year, Harlequin Productions raised a whopping £13,100 which will be split equally between Maggie’s Centre, which provides cancer support and information, and Mental Health Aberdeen which provides counselling and information services to people experiencing difficulties related to their mental health and wellbeing.

harlequin productions aberdeen 24 Hour Musical
Image: Harlequin Productions, Facebook.

“We’re absolutely delighted with the amount raised,” said Stuart.

The raised sum came from ticket sales and sponsorship opportunities organised by cast members.

“We’ve also had theatre angels – people who couldn’t make it to the performance sponsored one of the cast members or the production team. They basically donated money and they had their name in the programme.

“We told the charities how much we raised and they were unbelievably thrilled by the amount which far exceeded our expectations.

“We’ll be speaking to both charities to discuss where the money is going to go. We’re looking forward to speaking and meeting with the charities next week.”

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