Alan Menken's A Christmas Carol

The foyer was very busy when we arrived; clearly the tickets had sold well.  We were given our tickets but then left to our own devices as we waited to be admitted to the theatre.

Once we had taken our seats the onstage display was startling and very effective.  From this moment onwards I knew that, as long as the technical did not fall apart, we were in for a real treat.  Thankfully and, I am sure, to the great relief of the production team, cast and crew; the projected scenery worked smoothly and gave a significant added dimension to the production.

The story of Ebenezer Scrooge and the three ghosts, of Christmas Past, Present and Future, is very well known to all of us, but this production gave us much more than this simple story.  From the moment the first members of the cast came on stage, dressed in what can best be described as steam punk outfits, we simply had to sit up and take notice.  The pace was excellent and it was maintained throughout the entire production.  The ensemble numbers were well performed and I was able to follow everything that was going on.  Director Andrew Seal resisted the temptation to throw everything onstage at once and so we witnessed a continuous, but steady, treat of music, dialogue, dancing and costumes.  There were some lovely vignettes from the ensemble performers which heightened our enjoyment of the show.

As always in these reports, it is almost impossible to mention everyone in the cast but Peter Brown’s performance as Scrooge was strong, especially as he was on stage for a very large part of the show.  This is a recurring theme for Peter and his strength in maintaining the continuity of the show was very evident.  Olly Gourley (Mr Cratchit) gave another strong performance, he has matured into a very versatile actor and Dani De Gregorio gave a nicely judged performance as Mrs Cratchit.  Andy Gourley (Ghost of Christmas present) and Zoe Berry (Ghost of Christmas Future) both gave good performances.  I just think it was a shame that Zoe had to sing her song with her face covered as she is a very strong performer and this must have limited her somewhat.  Kathy Ward as the Ghost of Christmas Past was a complete delight; she lit up the stage whenever she appeared and she gave an excellent performance throughout.

I loved Mr and Mrs Fezziwig (Simon Lambert and Danielle Jameson) they produced great caricatures, which was exactly right for this short part of the show.  Personally I would have liked to see more colour in the Fezziwig Ball scene.  Whilst I loved the concept of black and white costumes for most of the show, I think this could have been lightened up with, perhaps another colour added, to show the joy of the scene.  Andrew did introduce another colour in a later scene so, perhaps, he was saving the effect until then.

Finally a mention for the children, I saw one of two teams that performed in this show and they were very good indeed, many of them have become seasoned performers for LODS and it is lovely to see them continue to grow and develop their skills on stage.

I have mentioned the projected scenery but, unless you have seen it, I cannot do justice to it with just words.  The transitions were well thought out, the projection was, almost, faultless and certainly the best I have witnessed outside a West End production. There were some delightful touches using animation and setting many of the scenes behind the gauze created a three dimensional effect that I would not have believed if I had not seen it for myself.  The clever use of just a few onstage props added to the effect and I can only describe it as a tour de force, well done to Andrew for the concept and his technical team for the interpretation.

I have already mentioned the costumes, which I thought were very well thought out and put together.  However, as someone who has a special interest in theatre costumes I must compliment Gemma Crofts for the imaginative and beautifully outlandish hats that were featured.

The band, under the direction of Conductor Stuart Woolner, produced a good sound, although there was one short moment at the beginning of the show when the music drowned out the dialogue.  But this was soon balanced and there were no issues with the rest of the performance.  Musical Director Rachael Plunkett worked her usual magic with the singing, which was excellent from both principals and ensemble.   Despite the occasional ‘darkness’ of the story I left the theatre feeling uplifted following a really enjoyable evenings entertainment.

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