Our House - The Madness Musical

The one thing this cast was not was an ‘Embarrassment’ – from the moment they stepped on stage it was clear that Director & Choreographer Dee Bennie-Marshall, Musical Director Matt Symonds and Dance Captain Charlotte Wall had worked with this talented group of young people to create an amazing piece of musical theatre.  The hard work, passion and creativity of the Production Team came through with these young people performing to pop musical numbers of their parents’ generation.    This juke box musical takes the chart successes of Madness, along with some additional material, and pulls it together with a sliding doors story line which follows the highs and lows of Joe Casey as he lives out his parallel lives on stage through the decisions and choices he makes.  Based in London with an array of interesting characters it is hard not to get caught up in the excitement and apprehension of teenagers about to take their first steps in the adult world.

The casting was excellent.  Josh Roberts as dad was an ‘other worldly’ like presence throughout the show – there whether Casey made good decisions or not.  His theme song of ‘Simple Equation’, built with each reprise.  Emily Bolton was strong in the role of Kath Casey, Joe’s mum – a London matriarch looked on as mother to many local boys.  Bolton was totally believable in her love for Joe and her pride in him regardless of the faltering steps he takes. Joe’s friends and the comedy duo of the piece are Lewis and Emmo played by Dillon Batey and Tom Skinner respectively.  Excellent acting, singing and dancing from these young men with clever delivery of the show’s funniest lines (Chocolate biscuit!).

Joe’s love interest and potentially the reason behind many of his decisions is Sarah, a school friend destined for better things, who never fails to support her first love.  Amelia Depledge once again displayed her huge potential in her performance with excellent dancing and beautiful solo pieces.  The role of her friends Angie and Billy were hilariously portrayed by Chloe Hind and Carys Booth – again very talent young women with strong delivery along with the ability to sing and dance.  Josh Webster played Callum – the University boy in love with Sarah – a great performance particularly as Webster also played three other characters.  Reecey, the bad boy, was both funny and wicked giving a confident presentation as the teenager you really don’t want your son or daughter to meet.  The real villain is the property developer Pressman and Caleb Somerville captured this cocky arrogant businessman well.  His version of ‘My Wife’s Mad at Me’ was very well delivered.

There are over 30 other characters in the show, all played by members of the cast who also worked as the ensemble and dancers.  Every single member gave their all to the roles – excellent accents and great pace to maintain momentum in this fast-moving show.  The Senior Dance Team were high energy, high kicking and dancing to an incredibly high standard to demonstrate the excellent choreography.  They will have to watch their places though as the young Junior Dance Team were a delight with acrobatic moves and tumbles.  They really were a tiny force to be reckoned with and put a huge amount of enthusiasm into their routines.  They totally held their own on a stage full of more experienced performers and were a pleasure to watch.  The songs are well known, so the audience had high expectations which the live band and strong singing did not disappoint.

The protagonist of the production is Joe Casey and he was perfectly portrayed by Dan Fenwick.  Fenwick never appeared to be off stage – playing either Good Joe or Bad Joe with strong solo numbers, a passionate performance, excellent acting and the ability to slip into each role before the audience had chance to notice, yet I understand he had 28 costumes changes so he must dress at the speed of light.  Fenwick really is a talented and engaging performer.  (Congratulations too to his dressers.)

The many costumes fitted with the storyline and the Show Girls/Boys looked stunning for their routine.  There was clever use of props by the cast to support the quick changes and all the set and scenery changes ran smoothly.  With good lighting, sound and special effects including a video and full-size car this show really was a ‘House of Fun’ from start to finish.  Which brings me to wonderful Madness Medley at the end with every cast member dancing and singing on stage and the audience dancing and singing in the aisles – brilliant.  The standing ovation was well-deserved – RTSA you set your own bar so high - simply a fabulous evening’s entertainment.

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