Showcase 2015- Next Generation

Act 1 of this fabulous showcase was the Friday Drama Seniors who performed their one act play “Little Women”. The book was one of my favourites growing up and was lovingly passed on with the original film to my little woman, my daughter Elouise.

The cast were word perfect and the acting by the whole cast was superb. Christy Mather as Marmie showed a talent well beyond her years with fabulous diction which was key to the narration parts. This was a very touching performance.

Katherine Farrow was brilliant as Jo the headstrong sister and her scenes with her sisters and Professor Bhaer were truly inspiring to watch and showed a warmth that was tangible.

Meg played by Melissa Saxon not only looked stunning but had nailed the characterisation of the older more traditional sister and that seemed very natural for her.

Amy the spoilt and more selfish sister was again a wonderful role, played just right by Violet Winterbottom. Her scenes were acted with a nice touch of humour. Beth the shy, sickly sister with a massive heart and talent for music was wonderfully portrayed by Lorna Richardson. The scenes with her sisters and Marmie were totally absorbing and I had to wipe away tears.

The boys in the cast, Laurie played by Thomas Davison, Brooke played by Thomas Bain and Professor Bhaer played by Harry Williams were very well cast and  supported the  female cast expertly. There were some nice accents and delivery of lines from the supporting cast including Rhiann Lowe as Grandmother/Aunt March.

This was a beautifully touching piece with well delivered lines in both poignant and comedy scenes. Well directed and time for players to create great characterisations and believable delivery of dialogue. The only piece of advice I would give to all these young performers is to hold their end poses of scenes for a couple of seconds longer to add impact. What feels like a lifetime of silence on stage when you are performing is nothing to the audience and just embeds the scene. Stunning and touching performances all round and I’m so glad I was able to witness this beautiful piece.

Act 2 was a great contrast theatrically to Act 1  and titled Just Be You with so much energy in both vocals and dance moves. An absolutely stunning set of opening numbers from The Lion King with fantastic choreography and what I always marvel at with this group are the staggering vocals performed with such energetic dance moves.  Sophie Thompson sounded amazing and the Company harmonies just added to the experience.

The 2nd set of numbers from Chicago allowed the cast  to add comedy acting to their already perfected skills with “All That Jazz”, “Both Reached for the Gun” and “Cell Block Tango”. I loved all these numbers and thought Georgia Moth,  Thomas Davison, Molly Mae France and all the girls in Cell Block Tango were stunning and all had the triple threat needed for these numbers.

Finally the cast performed numbers from Memphis with the help of their Director/Choreographer Gary Jones Mc Caw as a cast member was unavailable. Each soloist sounded fabulous but the strength of the company vocals was so moving and beautiful that it is a real joy to watch and listen to such talented young people. The cast finale however was from Kinky Boots which ended the evening on a real high with everyone singing on the way out. It was a wonderful evening watching an incredibly talented group of young people who are inspired by their equally talented tutors.

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