MUSIC of the Night director and choreographer Angela Collins

has theatre in the blood, coming from a theatrical family and

first appearing on stage when she was “about three”.

She ran a stage school in Plymouth for 25 years and has

worked as an actor, director and choreographer in theatres.

Mrs Collins has been behind Music of the Night since it

started in 1992, and even for someone of her experience the

proposition was originally intimidating.

She said: “I've directed many shows at the Theatre Royal but

when you come to the Citadel with such an enormous backdrop,

it's a completely different ball game.

“It was a daunting thing to begin with, but you do get used

to it after a while.”

Music of the Night is staged at the Royal Citadel every two

years, and this will be the ninth year the show has been

staged.

Mrs Collins said: “The most exciting thing for me over the

years has been seeing the whole audience of over 5,000 waving

Union flags and singing Land of Hope and Glory.”

She added: “It's grown a lot. When I look back to what we

did at the beginning, it was nowhere near as big. It's now more

than 200 people performing to over 5,000.”

When Mrs Collins isn't organising the biennial extravaganza

she directs the Plymouth Theatre Company, and many members also

join the ranks for Music of the Night.

Others, she said, come from as far afield as Penzance and

Exeter to join the show and ranged from people who only ever

performed in Music of the Night to semi-professional and former

professional singers.

Mrs Collins said the production is so big that it could not

be staged every year.

“I think it would be terribly difficult to find new material

if we did it every year,” she said. “I don't think people

realise, but it's quite something to entertain over 5,000

people every night.

She said it can also be difficult for the hosts, 29 Commando

Brigade, to fit the show into their schedule now that they are

involved in foreign resources. Not that anyone would want to

miss it. “It's the most exciting event and the nearest thing

we've got to the Edinburgh Tattoo,” Mrs Collins said. “I've yet

to see a more wonderful display of fireworks.

“People take their holidays to come down and see Music of

the Night. We get a lot of that – once they see it they want to

come every two years.”