Rapunzel

I was very much looking forward to seeing NATS’ production of Bradford & Webster’s “Rapunzel”, especially as their 2017 pantomime has received a NODA nomination.

There was a nice lively opening number by the younger members of the company.  The singing sounded good but not everyone seemed to have got on top of the dance routine.

Well done to Edward Dunn as Frankie, the Princes’ valet.  He connected well with the audience including the younger members. A good strong performance by Becky Monk as the wicked Gothel and Amy Dunn and Max West made a good pairing as Curly and Bob, rising to the challenge of playing Gothel’s idiot henchmen.  Very well done to them.

Kyle Banks was great as Fairy Flint.  Some might say he could have camped it up a bit but personally I liked the way he played it.  His costume was just right and what a terrific pair of wings.

A good performance from Alaois McHugh as Prince Frederick and Alex West made a charming Rapunzel. Will Murray and Sue Millar were suitably regal as the King and Queen.

There were times when Steve Dunn didn’t look completely at ease as Dame Trixie. Occasionally he seemed to slip out of character and his attention waver, especially when he was not included in the dialogue. The dame has to be completely over the top and have the ability to upstage all the other characters, but this didn’t seem to happen.  Perhaps a few more changes of costumes, getting evermore outrageous might have helped make the character more interesting.

The absence of the Captain of the Guard was well covered. I wish Matthew Fyleman a speedy recovery.

Well done to the young people who played supporting roles. Ugne Kuzaityte, Harriet Creasy and Olive Higham as Lacie, Macie and Gracie, the Prince’s ‘social secretaries’, Isabel Brady as Herald and Isabella Hultzer as Spider.  

Replacing the puppet scene with young dancers and ‘dancing’ lengths of rope’ could have worked really well had the lighting effects kicked in.  This, combined with the fact that some of the young people looked a bit out of their depth trying to maneuver their pieces of rope meant that the whole effect was lost, which was a pity.

The scenery was good and for the most part well thought out but I would like to have seen a chair of some sort in the hair salon and a table with assorted hair products. Also, climbing Rapunzel’s hair did not work as the hair could be seen being removed and carried off stage. I think this could have been better thought out.

The sound and lighting were all good with lots of lovely effects.  Yvonne Hannant did a very good job with the costumes and the musical accompaniment worked well. The soloists were rather off-key at times and as there is no MD credited in the programme I can only assume that much needed vocal coaching was not to hand.

This production did lack the slickness required of a panto. The long pauses between scenes resulted in the pace being very slow and the little ones in the audience getting fidgety. 

That said, there were some talented performers in this production and I hope I will have the pleasure of seeing them again in the future.

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