My son Pinocchio

Thank you for your kind invitation to report on this production of the musical about Geppetto and Pinocchio.  This show takes a very different view of the well-known story and looks at Geppetto's possible experiences as an unwilling father, with all its frustrations. 

The direction was excellent, and gave plenty of scope to the cast to create the characters.  The show was very well planned and organised, with entrances at many different levels and clear cues given to the audience for their participation. As ever, the young people excelled in their varied roles, from youngsters to old men, and from fairies to clockwork toys.  The audience welcome by the fairies was a lovely touch of magic, while having the orchestra in suitable costumes and onstage worked very well indeed. 

The set was imaginative and varied, with the wonderful mechanics of the 'child maker' box a real surprise.  The fold-up bars were very effective while the puppets were amazing!  Sound was well balanced and well cued, the music brilliant and the gauze curtain was well used.  The varied levels of the acting areas worked very well in creating different acting spaces, which were greatly enhanced by the use of good lighting and visual effects.  

The costumes were superb, as ever, with Pinocchio's make up, nose and wooden body very convincingly done. The clockwork soldier and dancer were very well portrayed, both in costume and in lack of movement.  The town elders had flourishing grey hair and beards. The choreography was excellent, particularly in the early big toyshop number.

The acting and singing within the show were very good, with wonderful characterisation by the leads in particular. Stromboli was very well played as the marionette handler, Geppetto played as a middle-aged man was excellent and Pinocchio was very realistic as both the puppet and the boy. The Blue Fairy developed a wonderfully feisty attitude to Geppetto at times, and the whole cast performed with good energy and control, conveying the story with great clarity and sense of fun.

This was a very different show to your previous production and the circus atmosphere created onstage was very well done. Congratulations to you all once again!

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