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Whistling wind brings a warm glow
The Man himself: Jonathan Ansell with some of the children from Tettenhall College Whistle Down The
Wind Wolverhampton
Grand ***** Bill
Kenwright never fails to please and Whistle
Down The Wind is another resounding
success with the talented cast joined by 20-plus pupils from Tettenhall
College. The undoubted star
of the show for me is Carly Bawden who plays Swallow the 15 year old old
sister to Poor Baby (Toby Smith) and Brat (Charlotte Oldroyd). Bawden
portrays Swallow with a touching naivety. Her voice never falters
and she is an absolute delight to listen to. Jonathan Ansell, probably best
known as the founding member of G4, is gifted with a amazing voice and
he plays with conviction, if a little over-zealously, The Man, a
murderer who is injured and on the run from the local prison. The story is far removed from the
Lancastrian setting of the original story written by Mary Hayley Bell.
The setting is a bible-punching, small town in Louisiana, USA in the 1950s, This is a sad tale of a young motherless, poor but decent, god-fearing farming family.
It is a story of mistaken
identity (Swallow startles The Man, in the barn and cries “Who are you”
and he exclaims “Jesus Christ”), hope, belief and realism (“he's just a
guy”) and a secret… which is shared with just a few close friends who
really won't tell. The first act is fine with a few
memorable moments; the line dancing and the thunderous reveal of The Man
but the vocal talents of the cast are undisputable and there are a
number of good tunes including Tire tracks and broken hearts.
The show picks up towards the end of the first act with the children
paying homage to their “Jesus” singing No matter what.
The second act is far more telling. Swallow takes a motorbike ride with Amos at the behest of The Man and is almost killed as she collects a package from the railway tunnel. Poor Baby, gets more than he bargained for when has asked for a Christmas bonfire, and then The Man is gone. Is he dead? Has escaped? Was he really Jesus? The show builds to a sickly- sweet, tear-jerking, finale with Whistle down the wind . The moral in the story - truth is what you choose to believe. Everything about the show is BIG.
Big barn, big telegraph poles, big voices, big fire scene.
The clever and seamless transitions
between scenes are kept together by a brilliant performance from the
orchestra under the musical direction of Birmingham-trained Michael
Steadman and the sound designer, Ben Harrison did a great job (I was in
that tunnel). The show closed to resounding
applause. The haunting title tune stayed with us all the way home
as we Whistled down the A453. Lynda Ford
***** THIS superb Andrew
Lloyd Webber musical is a story of how the innocence of children
collides with the cynicism of the adult world, and the stars of the Bill
Kenwright production are also from a different age range. Jonathan Ansell, lead vocalist of the X-Factor runners-up G4, gives a stunning performance as the fugitive who escapes from prison, hides in a barn and is mistaken for Jesus by youngsters in the Bible belt, Louisiana.
But he is given a real run for his money by the 23
children recruited from Tettenhall College whose singing and acting is
top notch. Some musicals contain certain songs of such emotional
quality they give the audience goose pimples, and this is one of them.
No Matter What, and Whistle Down the Wind simply take
your breath away. Many people at the first night performance were on
their feet applauding and cheering at the end of the show. The cast
deserved that. Ansell's classically trained voice gives the musical a
plus factor, while Carly Bawden excels as the innocent local girl,
Swallow, who treats the convict's wounds as he hides from the police,
convinced that he is Jesus. Youngsters Toby Smith and Josh Simpson share the role
of Swallow's brother, Poor Baby, with Alicia Kemp and Charlotte Oldroyd
playing little sister, Brut. Clever sets help build the drama as the lawmen close
in on the fugitive, and the band impress throughout a great show, which
runs to Saturday night 26.06.10. Paul Marston
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