Summer Holiday

Summer Holiday is a musical packed with Sir Cliff Richard’s early hits and full of fun, laughter and of course romance, as Don and his friends travel around Europe in a Routemaster London bus with a girl band and a young American pop star who is running away from home.

The young cast of CAOS Junior Section oozed energy and talent as they sang and danced their way through the vast amount of musical numbers. The songs are not the easiest for young voices but Kirsty did an excellent job of managing this and getting the best from the cast and they were well supported by the experienced four piece band.

In the lead role of Don, Dan Burlison was excellent; Dan has such a charismatic presence on stage and is a confident and competent performer. As runaway star Barbara, Darcy Ranasinghe gave a lovely performance, she did really well with the transition from playing star performer to teenage boy and her “Constantly” number was particularly good. Don’s friends Steve, Edwin and Cyril were played by Ruby Ranasinghe, Oscar Petre, and Georgos Marnellos, each of them portraying their characters well with good singing and comedy and making perfect partners for “Do Re Mi” played by Ellie Choake (Alma), Kate McGovern (Angie) and Grace Reed (Mimsie). The girls made a good harmony group and their “Gee Whizz Its You” was a perfect introduction to their characters. In the roles of Stella and Gerry (Barbara’s mother and agent) Jess Gibson and Freddie Scott were a great partnership; they had a good rapport, good accents and got every bit of comedy from their performances; they were a big favourite with the audience. All of the chorus members sang and danced very well and the supporting characters were well portrayed; I’d like to particularly mention the vocal performance of Kathryn Leonard.

The production was enhanced by a good set, including a double decker bus, and good lighting and sound support. The addition of the “mini” bus and boat crossing the stage between scenes was very funny.It was also great to see the attention to detail with the cast costumes and hairstyles adding to the 60s feel.

This was an uplifting production and the super performances were well rewarded by the audience applause and cheers, everyone left the theatre with a smile and a spring in their step. Well done to Lee, Kirsty and the army of support for putting together such an enjoyable production for both the cast and audience.

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