Kipps

Directed by Jacky Bacon, with Simon Percy as MD, Scunthorpe MTS gave a ‘Flash, Bang, Wallop!’ of a show in presenting Kipps - The New Half a Sixpence Musical.

The production boasted a strong principal cast including several new faces – which I think demonstrates the confidence of the production team that they can bring in new performers and ensure that they gel with the established team and worked well together to pull off the show.

Ann was played by Livija Kiselyte - she gave a lively and confident portrayal of the spirited Ann who is thrown over for a ‘Lady’ when Kipps comes into money.  The Shop Boys were all excellent Tom Heathcote as Sid, Ian Donald as Pierce and Tom Toward as Buggins – all worked well as their individual characters, but were believable as a ‘team’.  As well as choreographing the show Becky Toward played Flo.  She was a fun, charming and funny character and fabulous in her song and dance numbers.

Lisa Smith was very strong as Helen Walsingham which is a substantial part and she coped well with her ‘over-bearing’ mother Vicky Toward as Mrs Walsingham – another excellent performance.  I loved the interaction between these two along with the wayward uncle David Phillips as James Walsingham.

Creating strong characters had clearly been a theme of the direction and Paul Newton (Uncle Bert and Maxwell), Sharon McIlvaney (Aunt Susan), John Parsons (Shalford and Foster), Sophie Haigh (Miss Hayes), Tony Chapman (Photographer) and Amy Johnson (Miss Ross) were all great in their roles as well as demonstrating flexibility in being involved in production routines. Laura Hunt as Miss Carshot and Lady Dacre was very entertaining and there was some excellent interaction and strong singing from Bev Evans as lady Punnet and Clare Cook as Mrs Bindo Botting.

The casting throughout was very strong, but I must admit to feeling that David Hand is possibly the most delightful Chitterlow I have seen.  An excellent portrayal managing some very wordy lib and moving excellently.   He really did a fabulous job of the characterisation. 

The title role is of course very demanding as the character is barely off stage and Suren Beacock was a great Kipps.  This young man, who is studying Musical Theatre, was confident yet captured the naivety of Arty in the most engaging way.  A very strong portrayal and my very best wishes for the future.

The ensemble was fully engaged throughout and were fabulously dressed.  Congratulations to Becky Toward for some super choreography in the production numbers which really demonstrated the strength of movement in this experienced Society.  I also thought that the  finale ‘bows’ were well delivered with some lovely individual finesse.  The final routine with every member of the cast playing a banjo was amazing – Maggie Brader who made around 40 banjos must have worked very hard and demonstrated huge creativity in their production – very effective.

The eleven-piece played this lovely score beautifully under the experienced Simon Percy as Musical Director.  Singing was to a very high standard and there are some fabulous voices in both the Principal cast and ensemble.  Props and set were quickly and efficiently moved around the stage by both cast and crew – in fabulously fitting ‘outfits’.   The set was well designed to quickly move from scene to scene without the use of tabs and the use of projections rather than back clothes was cleverly managed.   The show had great props, scenery, sound and lighting and the costumes were stunning.

Director Jacky Bacon and all the Production Team have clearly worked hard to give Scunthorpe a great evening’s entertainment.  This is a very entertaining show and there is still time to see it as it doesn’t finish until Saturday 4th March.

© NODA CIO. All rights reserved.