Sleeping Beauty The Musical

I was very excited to go and see this brand new musical - the set designed and built by John Buckley and his team looked amazing. There was a central revolve which worked equally well both as Hellisent’s lair incorporating two height levels and deep in the forest, it also housed a projection screen. The interior and exterior of the cottage was set on a truck of which all four sides were used. The White Tower was also on a truck again multi level. Props were fairly minimal , costumes lovely and bright and full in keeping with the piece, they moved well during the dance numbers. 
For me personally at times the lighting was a little safe and not always pertinent to the particular scene. The sound levels as the show started had some issues as I could see Jon Crebbin (The King) singing away yet I could only hear the orchestra, this did however improve after the first number. Jon gave us some great vocals , he used the stage space well and showed us lots of vulnerability during the show. 
The two fairy godmothers worked excellently together, they gave us great full bodied characterisations and let their emotions and thoughts play across their faces for the audience to see, they had some nice vocals throughout and kept the dialogue smooth and pacey. Fairy Willow’s (Jordanne Woodward) comedic timing was spot on and I particularly loved her delivery of lines about cake. Their costumes had just enough sparkle to make an impact, the use of coloured wigs enhanced them well. 
Skarp the lead raven played by Keiren Lever was fabulous. Keiren played him very subservient and calm, it would be tempting to play him shrill and manic but by playing him in this way it showed his vulnerability and allowed us to see more dimensions of his character. I have to say that the ravens as a whole were magnificent, from the costumes right down to their physical movements - they epitomised a flock of birds. Their dance numbers were a pleasure to watch. 
Hellisent played by Leanne Wharf was for me personally a little too bland and one dimensional - I didn’t see into her soul, she was dramatic but the character had no essence, there was a lack of light and shade, when she was being evil and stripping the wings from one of the ravens there was something missing - the inner psychopath didn’t come out.
The fight scene between Prince Perrault (Samuel Reid) and Hellisent went on quite a long time, the choreography of it was very well executed and also fighting with the guard ravens was efficiently carried out. Samuel used the stage space well during his performance and interacted well with his love interest Princess Aurora (Hannah Goodwin), they had some very lovely scenes together and both had solo songs as well as duets.
Hannah showed some great sass as she rebelled against her constraints and decided to Take Her Chances, she gave us some great face throughout.
I enjoyed all the full company numbers both vocally and choreographically. The ensemble worked very hard - even when they were just stood they were obviously listening and reacting.

Thank you, Mossley for your hospitality, it was lovely to see you all again and I will see you soon.

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