The Phantom of the Talent Factor

What a fun evening’s entertainment, which the audience thoroughly enjoyed.

The production was a fairly simplistic piece of writing, with a lot of humour, which played well to the strengths of the ensemble, incorporating well-known music, interspersed with less well-known numbers, lending interest to the proceedings.

I must commend TADS Teens for their commitment to the diversity of their performers, including everyone, and giving young people the chance to perhaps do something they would not necessarily be able to do in other environments.  This attitude of inclusion is so good to see, and it is lovely to see the continued progression of all the participants.

The set was well-thought out, a little noisy on the scene changes at times, but it all worked well, with the minimum of changes required.

Lighting was good, there were some interesting and colourful effects which enhanced the production.  I liked the Phantom’s silhouette downstage left while they were singing – very effective.

Sound was mostly good, although sometimes the sound balance between the backing tracks and singer needed a little adjustment.

The choreography was suitable, and kept simple, which allowed the singers to concentrate on their music.  The boys backing the Phantom were very good, they tried hard and gave it plenty of enthusiasm.

With regard to costumes, which mostly good and although a lot of black, there were bright colours as well.   I liked Carly and Miss Worthington’s dresses, very striking, which suited their characters, as did Christina’s, slightly less flamboyant but also striking. 

As a whole I would have liked the cast to slow down their delivery, and project a little more, although we got some good humour and wry asides etc, which showed good direction and the actors comic timing.

I liked the commentary by Tristan Hall, this young man spoke clearly and with expression, as he did throughout the production, he also looked very smart when he appeared on stage - very well accomplished.

Alex Greaves gave us a masterly performance as the Phantom, they were expressive despite the mask, and it was nice to hear them sing.  Niamh Tillin created a charming Christina, again using facial expressions well, with good vocals, I liked her duet with the Phantom, they sounded good together.

The judges, Claire Wilden (Monica), Sam Tillin (David), Theo Fright (Robert) and Sophie Robinson (Lisa) all interacted well, with each other and showed very clearly that they were under Monica’s thumb, and she was the definite leader, who at first no-one wanted to go against.  It was good that she got her come-uppance at the end, and I liked the audience’s reaction to the character.  A good grouping.  Theo Fright emerged and showed us what a good actor he is when courting Christina, very clear speech, nicely achieved.

Matilda Dowdall (Pippa), was rather quiet to begin with, but showed her feisty side later in the production, I enjoyed her performance very much.

Eloise Urquhart played several roles, attacking them all well, and was joined by the enthusiastic Connie Wiltshire as the two Chorus Girls, a good pairing.

Charlie Gadsden and Morgan Wiltshire were good security men, and also undertook other roles within the piece, so well done.

Athena Fright (Steph) worked well in both her parts, nicely done, whilst Joshua Stone (Colin) looked very smart and in his first appearance with TADS Teens, I was very impressed with his acting skills.

Angel Bayliss (Miss Worthington) was a revelation, such a talented young lady, who has great timing and so obviously enjoys what she does and does it with aplomb.  Angel also sang really well.

Jenny De Filippo (Carly) gave us the bitchy character so well, she looked the part, singing with accomplishment and confidence, another good performance, I particularly liked Material Girl.

All in all an enjoyable production, good to see the cast so obviously relishing the chance to show off their accomplishments, and to see the production so well attended by an animated and supportive audience.

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