Moana Jr.

I must start by saying a HUGE thank you to the Whitehaven Theatre of Youth team for the fantastic welcome on my first in-person engagement as the new District 10 Representative.  

Attending a show I’ve never seen before is always exciting and I had been looking forward to seeing how the 2016 blockbuster movie would be adapted for the stage.  The answer was a colourful, creative and theatrical treat for a packed audience at The Solway Hall.

The show opened with the Chief Ancestors, acting as a pseudo–Greek Chorus recounting the thousand-year-old tale of Maui, a Demigod who stole the heart of Te Fiti, before eventually losing it to the perilous waters surrounding the Polynesian Island, Motunui. 

The Chief Ancestors were played well by Elizabeth Murphy, Bobby Donald & Eve Barwise. Bobby exuded charisma, as did his brother Charlie (playing Hei Hei) who delivered some tricky armography with razor sharp precision. All singing and all dancing proof that you don’t need a huge role in order to shine – ones to watch in the future, I feel…

Taking the leading role of Moana, nine year old Rosa Hodgson gave an outstanding performance, one far beyond her years, infact. She looked at ease from her first entrance and I enjoyed her delivery of the soaring power ballad How Far I’ll Go – demonstrating an impressive vocal range of one so young.

Having been quite late to the party – it was only during a lockdown binge of Disney+ that I was introduced to Moana, and since then any time anyone says “You’re Welcome” to me, I think of *that* song…!  Tom Mellon took on the role of the elusive shapeshifter Maui, and despite being a little subdued in his earlier scenes, Tom delivered a great rendition of You’re Welcome and really found his stride as the show progressed and gave a good performance.

If you could bottle and sell confidence, you’d definitely want that of Sam Dimwoodie who played the villainous hoarding crab, Tamatoa.  Strutting out from the wings in a costume that would have slayed on any runway, Sam had us in the palm of his claws from the very onset and was a joy to watch. Thankfully we were treated to a reprise of the David Bowie-esque number Shiny – which got a rapturous applause from the crowd!

Director Maria Morton’s production relied heavily on the use of the ensemble to keep the storytelling moving and they worked hard from the very onset - particularly the twelve strong cast members who played the Ocean.  Swirling cloths, moving scenery, hiding quick changes – they never stopped, and did all this and still managed to sing at the same time!

The songs in Moana are deceivingly difficult and a huge well done should go to the entire company for learning some hefty chunks of lyric written in not one, but two traditional Oceanic languages.  I assume this had to be learned phonetically during rehearsals which is a tremendous achievement.  We Know the Way weaved together lyrics in both Oceanic and English, this combined with some powerful choral singing culminated in a very moving finale.

Congratulations to Jude Henderson, Amy & Emily Morton - I really appreciated the choreography. There were some innovative and tricky steps thrown in there, all executed well by the cast, who were clearly having a great time.

Considering the small number of lighting fixtures that were rigged Front of House in The Solway Hall, I was pleasantly surprised by the quality of the lighting – the show was excellently lit. It was great to see haze being used, (albeit a little too liberally on occasion!) enabling the audience to take in the different colour palettes of the lighting design as well as blurring the line between real life and the professional content displayed on the LED Video Wall.  A big well done should go to the cast for always hitting their marks too – I’ve worked with many adults that still can’t find their light!

The show was performed to backing tracks, resulting in a good sound mix but I felt the levels of soloists and underscored dialogue could have been set a fraction higher. The balance of the choral singing was excellent.

The ensemble demonstrated lots physical theatre techniques which meant there was always something new to focus on negating the need to have elaborate scenery.  For me, if a company opts for minimal set, it must be finished well and I have to say, I thought the attention to detail in the set pieces and the props was absolutely exquisite.   The same can be said about the costumes.  It was abundantly clear that an enormous amount of thought went into to creation of this production and it really paid off.

What an enjoyable night this turned out to be. I couldn’t think of a better way to start my tenure as the district 10 Rep.  Thank you for the hospitable welcome from your Front of House team and it was lovely to meet the cast after the show.

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