Disney's Peter Pan Junior

Hello children of Riverside Juniors,  ????

First of all, thank you for inviting me to come and see your super show. 

I love Disney and I love also Peter Pan, so I was very much looking forward to seeing your production of Disney’s Peter Pan Junior. As I took my seat in the audience I could see that it was almost a full house for the matinee performance  and I can tell you that there was a great atmosphere as everyone anxiously waited to see you all perform. There were even a few children who had come dressed  up as characters from Peter Pan - I spotted mermaids, pirates and some fairies too so everybody was very excited.

The fabulous fairies opened the show, along with Tinkerbell, played by Amy Outhwaite, who was brilliant and played her role perfectly. Amy, you had a lovely singing voice and your characterisation was super - I really believed that you were Tinkerbell - great costume too, and I loved the bells on your wrist, so that when you moved and spoke it sounded like jingling bells. A very confident performance - well done! Fairies, you were all amazing and did a super job in your wonderful costumes - congratulations!

In the opening scenes we also met Wendy, played very maturely by Mabel Rodgers. Mabel, you looked beautiful in your costume and you have a lovely singing voice - I thought you sang Second Star To The Right and Your Mother And Mine beautifully - well done!

John and Michael, played by Luca Moretto and Ewan Kendall, were both excellent in their roles and acted out their characters really well - congratulations boys, you did a great job.

Mr and Mrs Darling, Sarah Cobb and Emma Shepherd, did a super job of acting as the grown ups - not easy when you are a kid! Well done girls, you were brilliant. Nana, played by Emily Riley perhaps had the hardest job of all - playing the role of a dog! Emily, you made a fabulous Nana and kept the family in line whilst looking after the children too - well done!

The opening nursery set looked lovely and the wonderful projection flew us all out of the window and off to Neverland. Congratulations to the grown ups who helped to build your set and do the sound and lighting (Dave Maltby and his crew) because the stage looked brilliant, with lovely sets, projections and lighting effects. The other grown ups who need a mention here are Rowan Marshall, your director who made you all look fabulous on stage and helped you with your lines and how to act them out, Ellen Tipping, your choreographer who taught you all some cool dance moves and made you look brilliant, and Emily Wainwright, your musical director who taught you all how to sing the songs so well. When you all sang together, it sounded lovely and I was very impressed with what you achieved here - congratulations! These grown ups are very important and they know how to make the show the best it can possibly be, so make sure you always listen to everything they ask you to do - and try to remember ALL of it! Not easy, I know, but the more you can remember to do, the more professional you will look on stage.

As we arrived in Neverland we were introduced to Captain Hook, played by Lucy Goldstone. Lucy, your characterisation was lovely - it is always fun to play a baddie and you looked as though you were having a great time on stage. It is important to stay in character 100% of the time, and that means you can be nasty and evil all of the time! At one point your sword fell off but you carried on as though nothing had happened - a true professional - well done! Smee, Alfie Fox, was a great character and played his part really well, getting some laughs from the audience too. 

Chief Tiger Bamboo and Tiger Lily, Ruth Farmer and Lily Horsler made great Indians. Ruth, you took charge of your tribe and we could see that you were the boss and Lily, you were a very sweet Tiger Lily, well done girls! 

And now to Peter Pan. Megan Jones, you made an awesome Peter Pan, some good characterisation and some lovely singing too. Congratulations on an excellent job - you looked as though you were enjoying yourself and were confident in your role - and this made the audience all feel very relaxed and happy so that we could sit back and enjoy the show. Well done Megan!

The other very important members of the cast, the Lost Boys, mermaids, pirates and Indians all did a great job and when you all sang together it was wonderful. I loved that you all had a named character (or two!) to play. Some of you played more than one role, so congratulations on your super-quick costume changes (helped by Kim Clegg and her team) and switching from one character to the other so professionally. Everybody’s costumes looked wonderful and helped you all to look the part and stay in character.

There were lots of very proud Mums and Dads, Grannies and Grandads, brothers and sisters in the audience and Riverside Theatre Company are doing a great job of encouraging children to come to the theatre, both to watch and to perform. This is important as the theatre can be a fascinating place where your imagination can run free and you can be transported to a magical world like Neverland. I heard lots of great comments from children around me in the audience - one said, “It’s a really good show and I would like to be in it next time” and another simply said, “I love it!”. Like the rest of the audience, I had a great time watching your production and I am looking forward to the next one. With such a young cast I was not sure that you would be able to pull it off but you all worked together as a team and put on a fabulous show for us all. Congratulations to all involved.

The standard of children’s theatre in St Neots is great - keep up the good work Riverside Juniors!

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