Local amateur theatre company, JTC (The Jewish Theatre Company) are 50 years' old, and they are celebrating. The JTC have grown over the years, but presently perform their annual Musical at Middleton's Arena, but their home is, I believe, in Bury.
On entering the auditorium, the stage curtains were open and colourful specials lit the area in hues of yellow and green.
A large live band assembled in the stalls close up to the apron front, and the anticipation and thrill in the air was palpable.
With a large cast, including a troupe of children chorus dancers (a nice touch!) this was a very upbeat and fun show for all the family, and it was clear that all on stage were enjoying every minute of their stage time too.
The musical follows the storyline of the animated film - or at least I am told that it does, I have yet to see the cartoon version, but have seen the musical many times over the last few years; it has become an amateur 'staple'.
Heading the colourful and animated cast this evening was Dean Simons, donning the green paint and creating a very believable and sympathetic Shrek. I enjoyed his character arc, from independent no-nonsense ogre through his alliance-cum-friendship-cum-dependence on Donkey, to his affection for Fiona, and his subtle and nuanced changes mellowing as he went along was excellently placed. Simons is also a very strong actor and his singing voice was powerful, clear and mellow.
Acting alongside of him, as I have already briefly mentioned were Donkey and Princess Fiona, played respectively by Michael Bowers and Aimee Horwich. Bowers took the bull by the horns and pushed his character as far as he could in terms of comedy and eliciting audience sympathy, however there is a slight tendency to push a little too hard at times which he needs to be aware, since he too is obviously talented and sensitive. In fact, in my opinion, the role of Donkey is actually the most difficult to portray satisfactorily by British actors, since the role was written for a black American comedian and this is only too obvious in the character's dialogue. Horwich too has a very powerful and quasi-operatic singing voice and he characterisation of Fiona was nicely measured. The threesome worked very well together and found some nice chemistry in their quieter moments.
The principals completed with Andrew Farley's interpretation of the diminutive megalomaniac-in-the-making Lord Farquaad. His characterisation was spot on, but sadly either the director or choreographer or both had him revealing his real legs, even standing up at times throughout, which sadly completely ruined the illusion and negated any effort taken for him walking on his knees Such a shame.
We also had a slight technical hitch this evening when it became evident that his mic was either not switched on or was not working, and it took the foresight of one of the knights to walk off stage and bring on a hand-held mic for him for the song. Full marks and excellently done to the unknown guard.
The flamboyant and multifarious characters of the chorus all both looked and sounded lovely, and their full chorus songs were perhaps the showstoppers of the evening. Special mention to the understudy for Young Fiona, I enjoyed her part in the trio. 'I Know It's Today' (I missed her name, was is Sienna Ponds?), and also to Libby Michelson's Pinocchio - one of the best characterisations of this role I have thus far seen.
I did have one rather large misgiving with this particular production however, and that was with the set design. Where everything else was lush, full, and colourful, the set was minimalist in the extreme, and in parts completely non-existent. There was a white cloth at the rear of the stage upon which projections of a semblance of the scene's setting was projected. However, the problem inherent here was that once the stage lights were on, the image was near enough to being lost altogether, and we simply could not see it!
Precious few items of set were brought on... an archway and bed for Fiona's prison, and half a bridge to take us to the dragon - basta! This simply was not enough, especially when on at least two occasions the stage was split and we were tasked in imagining that those on one side of the stage should not see those on the other, it stretched our suspension of the disbelief too far, especially if you did not know the storyline and where they were supposed to be!
With a fire-breathing female dragon, plenty of smoke and flashing lights, this was a very buoyant, bright, and fanciful production performed with zest and vigour by an obviously highly talented and dedicated cast.
Reviewer - Alastair Zyggu
on - 20.3.25
No comments:
Post a Comment