Mulan Junior

Wblets (Wootton Bassett Light Opera Society –Youth section)

MULAN -Junior                           

RWB Memorial Hall                          July12th 2019

Director: Ross Bathurst

This musical is based on the Disney Film, which in turn was based on a Chinese Legend, and is specially adapted for youth performance.  It tells the story of a young girl, Mulan, who is to visit the village Matchmaker and her father hopes she will make a good match.  She brings dishonour to her family by causing problems at her betrothal ceremony, upsetting her father and the Fa Family Ancestors.  Shortly afterwards her father, Fa Zhou, is conscripted into the army after the Huns invade China.  Mulan realises he is too old to fight so disguises herself as a boy and takes his place, the punishment is death if she is discovered.  The Fa Family Ancestors give the dragon Mushu, who is a demoted family guardian, the job of bringing her home.  Instead he gives her advice on how to be a man and so she goes onto train for the army.  After many adventures and battles in which she becomes a hero, and is eventually recognised as such, even though she is a woman, she returns home having brought honour to the family name and is welcomed by her father.  A little later Captain Shang, of the Chinese army, comes to be her suitor.  Mushu is rewarded for helping Mulan and is promoted to Family Guardian. 

It had been decided to stage it simply with black legs at the sides, rostra to give a change of level, a screen at the back of the stage for projections and a canopy, which was brought on to depict the Family Temple for the Family Ancestors.  It was also costumed simply in tee shirts, with various pieces of costume being added for the main characters, which identified them; and the dragon costume for Mushu, which he wore throughout, was good.  The projected images took us to various locations, with a very good avalanche.  The stage was well lit and cuing was accurate.  I liked the special effect for the Dragon’s fire.  Several of the young people were using microphones but unless the basic vocal skills are in place it does not always help.

This is a friendly inclusive group with some very young members and they performed with enthusiasm, and it was nice to see so many young men in the company.  There were some confident and interesting individual performances, with Mulan, Mushu and the young man with the duel roles of Fa Zhou and Shan-Yu coming across very well.  The chorus members supported the main action.  This show was performed to a backing track and was mostly sung with confidence.  I did enjoy ‘Keep Them Guessing’ it was fun.  There was a lot of humour, which was well brought out.

This was a relaxed production with plenty of enthusiasm from the performers and much support from the audience, who were obviously enjoying the show.

Report by Frankie Telford for Debi Weaver District 16

                

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