Evita

Another excellent performance from an extremely talented group of 8 to 18 year olds. This was the second show I have seen by the Footlights Youth Theatre and again they did not disappoint me.

The story of Evita is not an easy one to tackle for anyone but particularly a group of youngsters, and yet, they managed to portray all the emotions required to tell the story convincingly.

There was good teamwork and 'togetherness' from the chorus and they gave solid support to the principles. It should always be remembered how important every member of the chorus is and I was pleased  to see every single one of them 'giving their all' when on stage.

The five principles - Georgina Cox, Harry Chandler, Josh Henderson, Harry Dunnett and Nancy Longland were all outstanding and once again. I cannot believe the amount of talent within this young company. A particular mention must go to Harry Chandler- he blew me away as soon as he began to sing and held my attention completely - showing incredible maturity in his portrayal of Che.

The set was cleverly designed for minimum scene changes and yet with a surprise feature in Act Two during 'Don't Cry for Me Argentina'. It was also refreshing to not see a single stage hand/crew member during the show - instead using the cast to bring on and off furniture and props. This leads to far more continuity and doesn't distract the audience from the story.

Lighting was complementary to the show and once again the sound was superb- no mic 'issues' or distractions at all for audience members and we could hear every word which was being said or sung.

I had a thoroughly enjoyable evening visiting this group - everyone is very welcoming and hospitable. I look forward to visiting them again soon.

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