The Phantom of The Talent Factor

I have to confess to not only have I never seen this play, but I had also never heard of it until a couple of weeks ago, however I am so pleased I was able to see it today.

As the title suggests this piece is loosely based on the TV programme The X Factor and the musical The Phantom of The Opera. The action takes place in the TV studio of Marcia, who is the head judge in The Talent Factor.

Eloise Bulmer was excellent as this character, who turns out the be the Simon Cowell of the piece, however she also had a double whammy as it was also her production, so she called all the shots.

During the auditions we see Christina, who although she could sing very well, she was very quiet and shy. Charli Willis was superb as Christina, her singing originally was good but quiet but after she had been coached by The Phantom, boy could she sing.

As well as Marica as head judge, the panel also consisted of three more judges Lisa, played by Jenny Townend, Robert, who was more of a fair judge than Marcia. Lee Wilson played this part to the full.

The fourth judge was Davina, played by Linda Wilson, who was much more akin to Marcia and was undoubtedly a “yes man” to her call.

There were three other contestants in this contest: Carly, who was the favourite to win, and to be fair she was excellent, she was the epitome of the talent contest winner, however, it appeared she was also in the grips of Marcia. Chloe Ellis was outstanding, she could sing, dance and proved herself as a good actor too.

The two others in the contest were Steph and Colleen who were played by Sheenagh Austin and Holly Rebecca respectively and both of these were more than capable in their roles.

When Christina was in the dressing room, she heard some strange noises which turned out to be The Phantom who came to help her with her singing, just as in the musical, The Phantom of The Opera. Paul Thompson appeared, complete with mask as the Phantom and he was able to support and help Christina greatly, in  fact enough for her to win the contest much to the dislike of both Marcia and her protégé Carly.

Included in the lineup of contestants was Phillipa, who was quite a comedic character, played superbly by Catherine Hudson. During the period when The Phantom was coaching Christine we saw the rather flamboyant studio producer appearing onstage at various intervals giving instruction about the studio being closed “in 10 minutes”, Holly Rebecca delivered the goods to make this part her own.

There were quite a few twists and turns in this piece with The Phantom and Marcia meeting in his lair where he tells her of the arrangement between him and Christina which of course does not please Marcia at all.

This whole piece was very much a tongue in cheek spoof on the talent shows we all love and the audience, including me loved every minute of it.

Congratulations to everyone involved in this production.

 

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