Popstars The 90's Musical

This was a new one for me as I had not seen this production before. Whilst being a somewhat cheesy and predictable story the music all from the 90’s held a special place in a lot of peoples hearts who were born in that decade (or the one before). 

The set with a back projection looked stunning and meant the changes were never held up for scene changes. It also gave plenty of room for the large cast to dance. The aprons to either side of the stage were well set with the girl’s bedroom to stage right and the stage door to stage left. The props looked great as did the costumes. The lighting complimented the scenes but there were some issues with the sound especially with the balance between cast and orchestra. It felt sometimes that the cast were being drowned out by the musicians and a number of songs weren’t audible lyrically which was a real shame as they added to the story.

The Direction and Choreography looked effective especially as a number of this cast had not been on stage before. Working with a cast of this size and with differing abilities can sometimes be a bit like herding kittens so production did a good job on this show. I love the inclusiveness of this society and allowing everyone to perform.

In my opinion the Orchestra were too slow on many of the numbers and as stated earlier were too loud. This is a pop show but it felt too orchestral. I’m not 100% sure but I also felt that most of the cast voices were not warmed up and this led to a number of the songs being pitchy especially in Act 1. If we as adults cast young people to sing songs which stretch their voices we must warm up their vocal chords and also if we cast and it’s not quite in range then bring songs down a tone or two unless the rights do not allow that.

The principal cast worked hard to tell the story and there were some really nice performances. Some of the younger performers needed to be reminded to smile but if this was their first show it’s amazing to gain the confidence to stand and perform on stage. They will have learnt so much from this experience.

Freya Allison was fabulous as Charlie with gorgeous vocals on her sol numbers and great harmonies on her girl band numbers. Nice acting and dance moves added to her performance.

Holly May Hughes looked and sounded good as Carrie one of the additions to the boy band. A small part but really well delivered.

Riccardo Atherton put in a super performance as Mark the dumped boyfriend who decides to start his own band with his friends. Vocally Riccardo performed well with nice dance moves and acting skills added to the character.

The girl who dumps him, Shannon was played well by Lucy Grogan who portrayed a mean characterisation in this role. With nice vocals and harmonies the portrayal was a little fierce and I felt had no redeeming features to the character as no softer side was ever shown.

                                                                                                 

Amelia Buckley and Robyn Valentine did well as the sidekicks to Shannon. Nice vocals and dance moves added to these performances. The boy band consisted of Oliver Barlow as Vinnie, Daniel Gordon as Shane and Jack Hobson as Patrick who all put in nice performances. Each is growing in confidence and vocally they are all improving.

Grace Elcock was great as Ella the girl who helps the boys with their dance moves. With lovely vocals and bags of stage presence Grace filled and characterised this role fabulously.

Visually the show was lovely but isn’t the best script I’ve ever seen and is pretty predictable but potentially the music is the part that sells the show. The cast did a good job despite the balance of sound and orchestration issues with numbers which most of them wouldn’t have known (despite being familiar to many of the audience). It is always lovely to see the young people perform in this society and learn new skills with each show performed.

 

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