Reviewed by Paul Davies
June 2015
When our audiences say things like “That’s better than a professional production” they are referring to shows like this one. It’s almost faultless.
Boy meets girl and her twelve-year-old daughter. Boy and girl start off not liking one another, grow into love, have problems, fix them, people sing and dance a lot, it all ends happily. –You know the story before you sit down but it doesn’t make it any less enjoyable.
Fiona DeLaine as Paula commands the stage whenever she’s on’t, and she’s seldom off in this production. The ‘Beat Behind’ number shows true talent. –That cannot have been easy to master. Lindsay Prodea as Elliot is the ultimate nice guy, his performance is flawless, except when again he has to be bad, as Richard the Third is murdered on stage. –Being bad takes real skill.
There is no weak link anywhere in this massive cast, but the other stand-outs for me are Henny Walters as Lucy: -completely endearing. Paul Rodda who gave a series of scene-stealing lunatics with panache. And Megan Humphries who channels any number of divas belting out her numbers with gusto.
Director Pam O’Grady has brought together a great team. Brian Budgen’s set is particularly impressive, with the scene changes aided by the whole ensemble quick and not detracting from the whole. Shenayde Wilkinson-Sarti’s choreography too is stand-out. But all aspects, music, lighting, stage management, all that should be invisible are. That’s the benchmark for getting them to compare you (and try to forgive them their surprise when you think about the work you put in!) to the professionals.
