A Christmas Carol - The Musical

Afforded the usual cordial welcome by the front of house team and obligatory purchase of raffle tickets, I was ushered to my seat and looked forward to my evening's entertainment. A Christmas Carol is well known to all, frequently performed under its various performance guises, however I was unaware of the musical version and was interested to see how it would play out. I was not to be disappointed. The curtains were drawn and the 17 piece orchestra struck up. Good timing, and at a reasonable pace, well led by Eastleigh's new Musical Director Ed March they made a brilliant sound. The stage was set up with Victorian street scene flats to the left and to the right with a plain backdrop for outside and dark red burgundy drapes for the inside scenes. This left good space for the Director Ben Lister and Choreographer Lizz Spencer to come up with the movement and routines for this show. The dance routines were good and overall movement from the cast met the directing team. 

The costumes were first class, a lot of work having been put in by Sue Tatnall and Heather Cousins and the team, they fitted well and coupled with good lighting from Simon Turner and Louise Hodson brought the stage to life. We even had a snow machine for the end of act two!

The principles were very well led by an assured and confident Mike Pavitt as the eponymous Scrooge, and his performance well backed by the three ghosts, Amy Jordan as Christmas Past, Neil Maddock as Christmas Future and Gennie Matthews as Christmas future. All the principles were secure in their delivery and portrayed the characters with confidence. The supporting cast were equally respectable in their individual roles. Dominic Sly and Lyndsay Smith as Mr and Mrs Cratchet worked well together and equally worked well with Elayna Mele-Chahal as Tiny Tim. 

Overall this was a creditable performance with some good comedic moments and some sensitive touching times. An enjoyable evening. 

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