Finding Nemo Jr

Report on

ACTS 

Production of Disney PIXAR’s

Finding Nemo JR.

As seen by Bob Allen, NODA SW District 14 Representative 

on behalf of Mike Purnell NODA

on 29th January 2025

at The McMillan Theatre, Bridgwater

 

Directed by: Ann Palmer & Emily Searle.

Choreographer: Daisy Searle.

Lighting & Sound by: Ian Melmouth

Musical Directors: Phoebe Weaver & Alan King.

Stage Manager & Set Design: Andrew Pruett.

This was my first visit to the McMillan Theatre and what a bonus it is for the people of Bridgwater. A flexible seating hall with a traditional stage area. All seats had a good stage view from the auditorium or the two box floors above. 

Staging

The wide stage was open and bare. There was a raised walkway on the rear wall and side legs showing sea plants. The rear stage wall above the walkway was used as a screen to project seascapes and underwater scenes as provided within the play license. This immediately gave the traditional Disney look to the set. Mainly the stage area was kept empty to be filled with the cast. There was good effort placed into making the scenes different. The UV scenes worked so well especially the Jellyfish sequence. Umbrellas were used covered in material to give the impression of trailing feelers. Just a delight to see and such a great ending to part one. As this was an edited version of the film the two parts were fast and furious and a real test of stamina to all concerned front and back of stage. Sadly there were no curtains available to use at start and end of acts. The second act continued the story and we were all too soon at the end of the show. With all the trimmings of the licenced film clips and great scenery the magic was topped by wonderful coloured costumes. Wow. What a job getting fifty five young stars into costumes. All done with such panache. Everything was done to evoke a watery scene but still used vibrant colours.  That and the subtle use of UV light made the scenes so different and full of atmosphere. 

 

Cast : Acting, Singing and Presence

With such a large cast I wish I had space to mention every one. My eyes were kept busy waiting for any cast members to not be in character – which is always a hard thing to maintain when working in a group. I didn’t recall anyone not staying focused on their role despite probably having all their family and friends in the audience. Well done everyone! You were great. You gave great support to the lead characters who wouldn’t have looked so good without you standing guard. There are many adult actors who couldn’t have given such a good singing AND dancing display as you did. You must have had very good teachers. 

 

I must mention Tilly, Archie and Holly. They all worked well together and held the show on track. As all the lead characters had radio mics the diction was easy to hear. Both Nemo and his Father were good at the speech and songs and filled their roles so well.  I must admit that I admired Holly for her facial expressions, singing voice and acting skills. All three worked well together which was really important to the story. I loved the singing voice of Reuben who I believed voice Turtle. Such a strong stage voice.

I would also like to mention the young man who dealt so well with the seagulls and losing his lunch. Whoever had that idea was a genius as it broke up the scenes in a humorous way. 

Well done to him and the lovely seagulls. Talk about scene stealing!

 

Finally some last mentions from me. First a big vote of thanks for those who put together the excellent programme. I’m sure everyone got mentioned in it except those who made it happen. As the show was so fast and furious I couldn’t keep up on my note taking so the informative programme was such a help. Thank youi.

Also my thanks to all the adults on every side of the show – from those in charge to those supervising the children, to those pushing set around or those lighting up all the young faces. Without dedication shown by yourselves these children tonight would not have had the thrill or life experience that only appearing on stage can give!

 

Thank you for your kind invitation and great show

Kind regards

 

Bob Allen

NODA Area 14 rep.

 

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