Christmas Showcase 2019

The Stage was set with a beautifully twinkling Christmas tree and snow ready for North Stars to burst in with their first medley from Elf. The junior ensemble certainly brought some sparkle, jolly, twinkle and jingle energy throughout. Sound was good, the company used both head mics and hand held mics. Costumes were kept very simple, choreography was also simple to cater for the mix of ages and abilities and was well executed. There were a few stand out performances for me - Emily Simmister gave us a beautiful, moving rendition of Power of Love. I do know that Emily suffers with nerves but she overcame them to deliver a strong, solid, comfortable performance with lots of light and shade. It can be tempting to throw in lots of vocal acrobats and runs into this particular song, but I was pleased that Musical Director Darcey McCoy trusted Emily and just let her deliver a breathtaking performance.

Kyle Dunn’s performance of Driving Home For Christmas made you feel as if you were sinking into a large armchair - it was that comfortable and smooth. He has great tone and showed some lovely interaction with the audience. I didn’t know any of the song medley from Anastasia, but they were delivered well and the audience certainly seemed to enjoy them. It was lovely to see Director Linzi McCoy stretching herself vocally by treating us to a solo performance of Defying Gravity.  There was some fantastic audience connection - her vocals were strong and the money note was there. The final medley of the first half was from Frozen - George Denson always delivers a great solid, physical performance and the chemistry and timing between himself and Emily Sirrell was an absolute joy to watch.

The energy and performance levels stayed high as the second half was opened with a Rent compilation by some of the older company members - the harmonies were interspaced well. I particularly enjoyed Kyle and Kat Rogers interpretation of Baby It’s Cold Outside, the rasp of Kat’s voice sat so well within the smoothness of Kyle’s you could tell when watching them that they were enjoying the number. Darcey McCoy gave her usual solid, high voltage performance throughout the whole concerting both solo and group numbers. Bonnie Gatenby is a newcomer to the company and it was her first solo. There were a few apparent nerves but she coped well and gave a very open, vulnerable, emotional performance of Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas. I am looking forward to seeing Bonnie perform in the future.

Thank you, North Stars for your fantastic welcome and hospitality shown to myself and my guest. I will see you all very soon.

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