I was fortunate both to be part of the team helping out at the front of house for the Belper Junior Musical Theatre production this April and also a ticket holder for each of the three shows. This combination offered me the chance to enjoy every single performance and also to see how much other people enjoyed it both during the interval and as they left at the end. The only thing that people felt could have been improved was for the show to have been longer!
Let's start with the whole Junior cast and company. It's great to see so many highly talented children on the stage at the same time (as the Genie points out "It's a BIG musical"). There must have been between 40 and 50 children performing, all smiling, costumed brilliantly and dancing together to some amazing choreography. The main Disney show talks about the need for the set and costumes to be full of colour and able to bring the Arabian marketplace to life and the talents of the costume team for this show certainly showed that Belper is able to play its part in this context.
I think that this was the best choreography that we have seen in a Junior show for a while. It brought together themes of Bollywood together with gymnastics, acrobatics and tap. Absolutely stunning. The combined approach of making the best use of the most talented dancers whilst still using everyone else to support the central theme really was excellent.
Adding to the sense of drama and almost cartoon surreality was the stunning makeup. The effort which transformed Jafar and the Genie deserves a particular mention. How much fun must that have been. And very few people were sure whether the six pack displayed by Aladdin was real or made up - perhaps a Poldark of the future?
Having touched on company, costumes, choreography and makeup, there is an urgent need to recognise the energy and effort that went in to all of this from the directors - both for performance and singing ability. It was clear that great thought had gone into all of the little touches that make the difference between recital and performing and this show had the latter in spades. Each child had a part to play and did it brilliantly, making sure that they provided a living back drop to the story taking part centre stage - and the audience loved it! And the singing was great. Excellent harmonies, clear vocals from the lead roles: even the strangely out of time Why Me was sung with confidence (the timing being the issue of the song not of the singer).
Overall however, it is not fair to write these comments without focusing on the stand out performances from the lead characters. Jafar was great, his parrot has a life ahead of ham acting in pantomimes, the Sultan was perfectly cast and showed perfect comic timing, the Genie was full of life and energy, Princess Jasmine was sweet without being saccharine and Aladdin was the glue that held the whole show together. What an incredible team.
People came out of the theatre hall smiling - as one commented 'My cheeks are hurting I have been smiling and laughing so much'. This show was not a pantomime (despite the best efforts of the Sunday matinee audience) but it was great fun. It told a story and made people laugh and pause for a brief moment of reflection at the thought of friendship and how important it is. I am looking forward eagerly to the next show from this talented group of children.
Let's start with the whole Junior cast and company. It's great to see so many highly talented children on the stage at the same time (as the Genie points out "It's a BIG musical"). There must have been between 40 and 50 children performing, all smiling, costumed brilliantly and dancing together to some amazing choreography. The main Disney show talks about the need for the set and costumes to be full of colour and able to bring the Arabian marketplace to life and the talents of the costume team for this show certainly showed that Belper is able to play its part in this context.
I think that this was the best choreography that we have seen in a Junior show for a while. It brought together themes of Bollywood together with gymnastics, acrobatics and tap. Absolutely stunning. The combined approach of making the best use of the most talented dancers whilst still using everyone else to support the central theme really was excellent.
Adding to the sense of drama and almost cartoon surreality was the stunning makeup. The effort which transformed Jafar and the Genie deserves a particular mention. How much fun must that have been. And very few people were sure whether the six pack displayed by Aladdin was real or made up - perhaps a Poldark of the future?
Having touched on company, costumes, choreography and makeup, there is an urgent need to recognise the energy and effort that went in to all of this from the directors - both for performance and singing ability. It was clear that great thought had gone into all of the little touches that make the difference between recital and performing and this show had the latter in spades. Each child had a part to play and did it brilliantly, making sure that they provided a living back drop to the story taking part centre stage - and the audience loved it! And the singing was great. Excellent harmonies, clear vocals from the lead roles: even the strangely out of time Why Me was sung with confidence (the timing being the issue of the song not of the singer).
Overall however, it is not fair to write these comments without focusing on the stand out performances from the lead characters. Jafar was great, his parrot has a life ahead of ham acting in pantomimes, the Sultan was perfectly cast and showed perfect comic timing, the Genie was full of life and energy, Princess Jasmine was sweet without being saccharine and Aladdin was the glue that held the whole show together. What an incredible team.
People came out of the theatre hall smiling - as one commented 'My cheeks are hurting I have been smiling and laughing so much'. This show was not a pantomime (despite the best efforts of the Sunday matinee audience) but it was great fun. It told a story and made people laugh and pause for a brief moment of reflection at the thought of friendship and how important it is. I am looking forward eagerly to the next show from this talented group of children.
