This production had dual casts in the principal roles. In the interest of fairness to all, we reviewed both casts. Brian Godfrey was the reviewer for both the Thingamabob cast and the Dinglehopper cast.
This production was the directorial debut for 17 year old Bernard Flynn and he did quite an impressive job for being behind the wheel for the first time. He had a very good grasp of the story and what makes a show entertaining for an audience. His direction was fairly simple but showed lots of future promise if he keeps it up, which hopefully he will, and was nice and pacey. Musical Director, Summa Arrizza is another 17 year old who certainly knows how to get the perfect notes out of her cast. The score is not easy with quite a few high notes dotted about and even requires a contralto of which there aren’t many around at a young age (not to mention a bass baritone part for a boy – normally at the age this show is directed at young boys voices haven’t broken yet). But Arrizza has pulled lots of seafood out of the sea and both casts sound wonderful. As Choreographer, young Bridget Tran has trained both the young casts (there seemed to be hundreds of them on stage) to be in perfect time and step.
Ethan Joy, as Stage Manager, did a magnificent job of handling the many scene changes and cast’s entrances and exits smoothly. Kristian Latella’s great projection design flowed easily from scene to scene – his rolling ship was so realistic that this reviewer was almost seasick. Costumes were bright and colourful but at times could have been a touch more inventive. In the first production the mic levels wandered and clicked from time to time but this was cleared up by the second show.
THINGAMABOB Cast
Keira Wubbolts made a delightful Ariel, matching every little girl’s image of what she should be. Her version of “Part Of Your World” was as lovely as she was. In the role of, by now, the most famous crab ever, Sebastian, Nicholas Latella was absolutely fantastic with a very realistic Jamaican accent. He and the other sea creatures stopped the show with “Under The Sea”, which they should. Ewan Pugh played Prince Eric in both casts and one could see why – he WAS everyone’s ideal image of the Prince. He stood straight, was nicely regal, could move, act and really sing. It was a very confident performance. As sea hag Ursula, Kiera Flynn was appropriately evil, but whether it was her mic or her diction, she was hard to understand at times especially in her song “Poor Unfortunate Souls”.
Catherine Kilpatrick played squawky Skuttle well and little April Sprules with a crystal clear voice twice her size was a fantastic Flounder. Playing way above your age is not easy and young Ethan Anderson did quite well as King Triton, he just needs to gain more confidence. Elliott Davis definitely had that confidence as Major Domo Grimsby, delivering quite a stylish performance. Charlie Clarkson and Emily Riddle were suitably slimy as eels Flotsam and Jetsam respectively. Another performer who played the same role in both shows was Brodie Jarmyn-Dubicki as the Pilot – where oh where did that great bass baritone voice come from?!?!
The rest of the cast were too numerous to mention individually, but suffice to say: they did what they were supposed to do and did it well!
DINGLEHOPPER Cast
Something radical happened with this cast: two roles were gender swapped and it worked! Maja Ilic played King Triton well, bur the real surprise was Joshua Roberts as villainess sea hag Ursula. This young man was fantastic. He wore the dress and heels but just had his shortish hair coloured and only very slightly camped it up (lets face it, all Disney villains from time immemorial do). Joshua used a deepish voice which was perfect, especially for “Poor Unfortunate Souls”. His voice all through was crisp and clear.
Maddison Sanders was the epitome of Ariel, bringing down the house with her absolutely beautiful version of “Part Of Your World” – everyone in the theatre wanted to be part of her world. Henry Tran played Sebastian to perfection, delivering every line of dialogue, vocals and each dance movement with perfect timing and style.
Sophie Hill’s Scuttle was confident and hugely comical; with Adele Binns making an oh so cute Flounder (another tiny performer with a big voice). Edward McEwan gave a very nice stuffy performance as Grimsby; whilst Flotsam and Jetsam were given great slithery, slimy performances by Belle Coulson and Eliza Jackson respectively.
Once again, with a cast and ensemble whose names would fill a telephone book if I mentioned them all, they were all great and certainly added to the fun of the show.
