Scrooge the musical

The classic Christmas tale of a miser’s redemption is a difficult show to achieve technically, but this youthful cast ranging from about 6 to 15 produced a believable, and highly entertaining, evenings enjoyment in this intimate little theatre space.

With over 40 named parts many cast ‘doubled up’ in roles and it would be impractical to name all the principals, but each contributed to the finished performance. Taking the title role ‘Scrooge’ was the confident Simon Reeve whose clear diction coped well with the, often unfamiliar to modern times, Dickensian dialogue. Scrooge’s dead business partner ‘Jacob Marley’ was sinisterly played by Phillip Erikson. The three ‘ghosts’ each had their own characters. ‘Past’ was sweetly sung and acted by Katie Shepherd, whilst ‘Present’ was given an edginess to the role as she cajoled Scrooge through the misery his current lifestyle engendered - Emily Kay excelled in the role. ‘Yet to Come’ ghost was played by Sally Emmerson, silently and sinisterly.

The Cratchits were played by Evie Atkinson (Mrs.), Emma Smith (Kathy), Abbie Whitehead (Martha) whilst ‘Bob’ was played with ‘quiet contemplation’ by Harry Smith. ‘Tiny Tim’ completed the family, played by James Stewart who sang the wonderful “Beautiful Day” with great feeling.

The young adult Ebenezer and his beau Isabel were played by Matthew Sheridan and Emily Bashford respectively, and gave a very emotional rendition of “Happiness”. Emily also doubled up as the role of ‘Tilly Jenkins’ and sang really well in the raucous choral number “Thank You Very Much”.

One minor role that, although not exactly height appropriate, stole the show was the diminutive Edward Mogie whose own individual style of ‘freestyle’ dancing, in the excellent number “December the 25th”, caused a spontaneous round of applause from an appreciative audience.

Well done to the production team for adapting to a fixed set and creating a production that was a wonderful hors d'oeuvre for Christmas. The youthful cast, well costumed, engaged the audience with their smiles and their tuneful singing in, my highlight of the night, “Sing a Christmas Carol”. One final point, and one that some adult societies need to note, not one microphone was used in the production yet these youngsters used the art of voice projection to be heard – well done!!!

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