Once upon a time the amateur stage in north Manchester was dominated by the behemoths of North Manchester AODS and Middleton AODS, and even closer to home was the highly proficient and award-winning St. Thomas More's AODS. How things change! These days the three above-mentioned societies are either no longer in existence or have been reduced to much smaller groups no longer with the clout to put on any large scale productions. Their misfortune however, seems to have been the very thing that has brought Heywood into the fore. I have seen a few productions from their adult section over the last few years and their standard is extremely high.
This evening however it was my turn to watch a production performed by their junior youth section, Hey Kids. The age range was quite surprising, with some on stage looking no more than about 7 years old, whilst the older ones were up to ten years older.
Their chosen musical production this year is the stage musical version of the Disney film, 'High School Musical'. This was only the second time I have seen a production of this musical, and to me it just seems very much like a poor-man's 'Grease', with a little bit of every other American High School teen comedy romance film thrown in for good measure. What story there is concerns a maths geek, Gabriella, who whilst on holiday has a romance with basketball 'jock' Troy. Both are from different schools and so at the end of their holiday, they part promising to keep in touch. Cut to the start of the new school year, and who should turn up as a new girl at Troy's school.. yes, you've guessed it, Gabriella! Of course, in typical 'Grease' fashion, the romance is on and off because of their different social statuses and the expectations of their individual cliques. Besides which, there is love (sorry, attention) rivalry from the school's drama star, Sharpay.
The stage was set with the tiered seating of a school athletics track [think 'Summer Nights' from Grease], which was omnipresent, whilst smaller set items were brought in and out as necessary for each scene. Costuming was mostly in the red and white colours of East High School, and mostly worked excellently. The two youngsters wearing colourful tie-die t-shirts did stand out a little though. Lighting was creative and worked well, whilst sound levels were OK, but set just a tad too high; the voices were amplified to the maximum limit before they would have been distorted. Turning them down just a couple of decibels would have made the world of difference.
Courtney McLean and George Ireland headed this energetic and enthusiastic cast as Gabriella and Troy respectively. Both worked very well together and one did truly believe that they were in love. - not an easy thing to pull off on stage with ones so young. Their characterisations were well thought-out and secure, and McLean's rendition of, 'When There Was You And Me' in act 2 was simply beautiful. The antagonist of the piece, dressed and behaving rather like Elle Woods in 'Legally Blonde', was Sophie Doran as drama star and bitch, Sharpay. Once again, she had the right attitude and her characterisation secure, and together with a splendidly and deliberately effete Ryan (Joseph Gooding) made a lovely comedy pairing and superb foil for the main leads.
The whole cast deserve a mention, but there are too many to do so. That being said, though, even when the whole company were on stage, they still did not fill it, and am sure the company would love some new members to help swell their ranks! Nate Lord-Vayro played basketball player and best friend of Ryan, Chad; Charlotte Evans revelled in her slightly mad character of drama teacher Ms Darbus; Luke Radcliffe did well acting much older than his tender years as Ryan's father and basketball teacher, Coach Bolton; whilst the diminutive but high spirited Nieve Greenwood was our cheery school announcer-with-attitude, Jack Scott.
The singing in general was solid and secure, and sounded good, especially the full chorus songs. "Stick It To The Status Quo" being the stand-out chorus number this evening. The choreography was simple but effective, and was competently executed, being well within the company's cumulative ability.
Directed by Sarah Davey, there were some very odd choices made here, and some things which, for this reviewer at least, simply did not work. Placing school desks in one straight line facing the audience and then asking the teacher to also face the audience was for me the biggest faux-pas. The storyline was not as clearly signposted as it could have been, and there were a couple of much smaller vignettes where the location of these was not clear too. Scene changes were long-winded with the band being tasked in vamping until they were complete.
However, the children loved every minute of their stage time, and I did enjoy Davey's use of the auditorium for one of Ryan's entrances. It was obvious that all on stage were giving their alls at all times and it was their enthusiasm and commitment to the show which truly made this evening, as this was palpable and transmuted across the pit into the audience. Well done all!
Reviewer - Matthew Dougall
on - 18.10.23
on - 18.10.23
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