The Great British Bake Off

I could never imagine writing a review for a show with Bake-off and Musical in the same title, but there it was and here we were, at the Newbridge Memo, a beautiful old theatre in the middle of a small  town in the valleys of South Wales, waiting with an excited audience to see this Welsh Premiere show; the first production from the theatre group, CODA.

You were in very little doubt that you were in the right place from the moment that you stepped into the auditorium. There was a heavenly smell of freshly baked cakes to greet the audience. A very astute production idea that certainly set the scene.

From the opening scene the pace was cleverly linked to the activity and tensions that have been portrayed in the very popular Bake-Off series, with a stage setting of baking stations, that I am sure would have been very difficult, with the need to maintain the movement around the stage. 

The chaos of the kitchen was choreographed to perfection using every inch of space and showing each of the individual characters [Bake-Off Competitors]. The constant movement required to bring each character to the audience sometimes made it hard to discern their individual comments and humorous quips but thankfully there was an abundance of well-timed humour, that delighted the audience.

The Bake-Off competitors were a mixture of very different characters that were brought to life by a very experienced cast with a long history in both amateur and professional performance.

Nigel Hart [Ben]    Jess [Izzy]  Laura Hayward [Francesca]  Vivienne Ross [Babs] 

 Kesia Alise [Gemma]  Todd Slaughter Rowen [Dezza]  Lee James Turner [Russell]  Lloyd O’Connor [Hassan]

Each member of this cast made the character their own showing some wonderful comic timing and equally emotional performances. The energy within the group never faltered and the quality of their movement and dance skills around a very difficult set must be commended.

The famous Judges, William Byrne as [Phil Hollinghurst ] and  Samar Small as  [Pam Lee] left no doubt as to who was in charge, along with Ally Gibson as Kim and Geraint Barnes as Jim. Some very good solo performances especially from Samar who certainly knows how to rock the stage.

An excellent duo from Nigel Hart with the youngest member of the cast Edith Hall as Lily who gave an outstanding performance that showed no lack of courage. She owned the stage and made it her own. Bravo Edith.

A solo performance from Vivienne Ross as Babs and Kesia Alise as Gemma made for very memorable moments in the whole performance.

My congratulations to Choreographer Rachel Dixon. It is not every day that you see such a well drilled choral line-up, who really do stay in time and make it look easy. The choreography was inventive and looked very professional. Well done.

My heartfelt congratulations to the production team. A Welsh Premiere and an act to be followed. Bravo

 

 

THE VIEWS IN THIS REPORT ARE SOLELY OF THE AUTHOR

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