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Stars explained: * A production of no real merit
with failings in all areas. ** A production showing evidence of not
enough time or effort, or even talent, and which never breathes any real
life into the piece – or a show lumbered with a terrible script. *** A
good enjoyable show which might have some small flaws but has largely
achieved what it set out to do.**** An excellent show which shows a
great deal of work and stage craft with no noticeable or major
flaws.***** A four star show which has found that extra bit of magic
which lifts theatre to another plane. |
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Scaling the musical heights The Sound of Music The Arcadians Crescent Theatre, Birmingham **** I AM pretty sure most people know the
story of The Sound of Music and even if you have only ever seen the film
version then that’s good enough. There are few additions and changes
within this stage production by The Arcadians but overall it remains
pretty much unchanged. The company clearly have had great fun in staging
this lavish production with multiple scene changes, what seems like
hundreds of costumes and a 12 piece orchestra, the latter under the
capable musical direction of Lauren Coles. Gabby Thomson took on the mammoth task of Maria
and did a great job of supplying a secure level of confidence to the
younger members of the cast through her performance. Her voice was
controlled throughout and handled the songs with ease. All the Von
Trapp children seemed capable and well-cast with little Megan Best
stealing the show as the tiny Gretl with her totally `cute’ appeal. Captain Von Trapp was played by David Mann who at
times seemed a little too controlled and rarely seemed to smile but
otherwise delivered the role of the austere commander again with a calm
confidence. One of the nicest scenes was 16 going on 17
featuring Bronwen Collins- Jones as Liesl and Chris Cahill as Rolf. The
couple included a nice dance routine choreographed by Chloe Turner which
gave the pair an opportunity to show what they were capable of. The role of The Mother Abress was played by the
very experienced Claire Vaughan and the towering song Climb Every
Mountain was powerfully delivered by her, faltering only slightly on
the last two big notes. The Arcadians have plenty of support as the cast
swelled in numbers for the Von Trapps party and the final chorus. Musically the score was well performed to a very
high standard for an amateur production and the correlation between the
score and onstage action was well executed. The Arcadians under the Directorship of Sonya
Williams have obviously set the bar very high here but overall I would
have like have liked to see the whole performance with a little more
energy as on the whole it felt safe. This was probably a result of first
night nerves and the want to get things right and will no doubt improve
over subsequent performances. A final mention must be given to Ruth Peaker who
signed the whole performance for those with hearing difficulties. As an
important and often overlooked role, she worked extremely hard for the
entire evening and beautifully interpreted these emotional songs in a
way that added an additional level of visual entertainment to a solid
and entertaining production of this timeless musical. To 23-11-13 Jeff Grant |
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