Page To Stage

Bristol Musical Theatre brought us a lovely well thought out programme, offering a lively mix of company numbers, solos, duets, and small group pieces that catered to all tastes. From the rousing opener “Revolting Children” to “Pure Imagination”, “New Money”, and a well performed Wicked medley, there was something for everyone to enjoy. The theme for the evening was Page To Stage, so songs from well known books. Set in a library, with Matt Heaton playing a grumpy downtrodden librarian, frustrated with his space being overrun by “Thespians” causing trouble and disturbing his peace. He provided an interesting introduction to all the pieces with some funny and entertaining links between the numbers. You do grumpy very well, and I enjoyed how your character was incorporated into “Officer Krupke” it worked really well.

The set consisted of flats depicting the library bookshelves. With stairs centre front so all available entrances and exits were fully utilised. This all set the scene clearly and effectively.

There were a few issues with the radio microphones on the night I was there. I am also unsure as to why some performers were mic’d and others not, which led to quite an uneven sound balance throughout. Given the venue and the small band accompaniment, it probably would have worked better without microphones altogether.

Musical Director Helen Heaton had clearly worked hard on the arrangements. I particularly enjoyed the arrangement of “Let’s Go Fly a Kite” which was beautiful.

I saw in the programme there were multiple choreographers, but the dancing remained cohesive, was pitched at the right level for the cast and well executed.

While it’s impossible to mention every performance, I particularly enjoyed “Time” from The Notebook, “Dear Bill” from Operation Mincemeat, “You and Me (but Mostly Me)” from Book of Morman and “Time Stops” from Big Fish, all of which were real highlights. Throughout the evening, the entire company maintained a good level of energy, delivering a polished, engaging, and entertaining performance. There were a few moments where diction could have been clearer, particularly in some of the faster-paced songs, but this didn’t detract from the overall experience, and you delivered a thoroughly enjoyable performance. Well done to everyone involved.

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