Shrek the Musical Jnr
Information
- Date
- 25th May 2023
- Society
- In Your Face Theatre (Seaham)
- Venue
- Seaham Town Hall
- Type of Production
- Musical
- Director
- Charlie Younger
- Musical Director
- Jenni Watson
- Choreographer
- Steph Peacock
In Your Face Theatre Seaham have historically always had a reputation for good quality performances, enthusiastic members and strive to always keep their performances not only local to Seaham but also affordable to the community. Their latest Youth production of Shrek Jnr was no exception. A packed out venue at the Town Hall greeted me and bundles of enthusiasm from their members and production teams alike.
Director Charlie Younger really brought out the best in her cast, with all of those young people on stage beaming with smiles, very well-rehearsed and the energy was unbounded. Choreographer Steph Peacock excelled yet again with well rehearsed appropriate choreography that all cast members could execute well and supported by dance captain Rebecca Moore. Jenni Watson, a powerhouse of a Musical Director in her own right again made those children sound absolutely wonderful on stage with clear harmony and diction throughout. The legend John Curtis as production manager, always thinking outside the box again delivered in the difficult venue of the Town Hall and East Durham Audio and Paul Oliver on sound and light respectively did a marvellous job with difficult angles with the lack of height at the venue. No sound issues at all, despite what seemed like a million microphones and the lighting design by Paul really was superb and complimented the cast so well.
It was a treat for IYFTS to be able to use set, crafted in house by the Group and easily spun to create woodland scenes, Lord Farquaar’s castle, the Princesses tower and the swamp of course! Really clever use of reversible pop up sets, travelling style changes
Costume and puppets were supplied by Spotlight costume hire and the group themselves with an army of volunteers as make up, stage crew, puppeteers and set which of course ensure Shrek Jnr is brought to the stage. You all are utterly brilliant, well done, especially ensuring Princess Fiona has a seamless 60 second quick change to an ogre including full make up!
Now the performers. There must have been a cast of around 40 young people on that stage all of whom were absolutely fantastic. They sang, danced and most importantly, clearly were having a whale of a time. You’re all superstars, every one of you. I did especially love the Dulocian dancers and the wonderful smiles.
Mentions must go to Nathan Johnson playing the titular role of Shrek, Aimee Curtis playing Donkey, Francesca Lundie playing Princess Fiona, Orie Coulton-Goodwin playing Pinocchio and a newcomer to me Bailey Horn who was utterly brilliant as Lord Farquaad and had me in stitches. All of you were simply amazing. I’m in awe of every one of you. Marvellous performances you really should be so proud of yourselves. I loved Shrek’s big energetic entrance and Donkey’s boundless energy throughout.
Supporting mentions which I also loved was the incredibly talented Harris Miller as the Big Bad Wolf & Gingy, Joel Oakley as the Captain of the Guard and Lily Mason as the Voice of the Dragon who was absolutely fabulous. Her voice was out of this world, there’s a lot to come from Lily, watch this space.
Every member of the cast was fabulous and I absolutely loved this performance. The energy was fantastic and the musical numbers loved by the whole audience who rightfully were on their feet at the finale. Really well done all of you.
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