The Railway Children

The show was staged at Commerce House in Bolton and is a nice venue which I had not visited before. The stage was well used with the two aprons offering small scene options which were cleared and reset quickly by the stage crew with the main stage set for the railway scenes and house scenes. The set and props complimented the period as did the costumes which looked great.

The lighting worked well and complimented the scenes and the sound overall was very good apart from the balance of the band on some numbers where because the songs were unfamiliar it was difficult to distinguish the lyrics.

Prior to this I had not experienced the show as a musical but the music was very varied and likeable.

The direction by Louise was very good and kept the action moving all the time. I liked the use of the auditorium for certain scenes and the emotional scenes were beautifully portrayed.

The music which I guess will have been unknown to most of the cast if not all before commencing rehearsals was well sung with some fabulous harmonies and had clearly been worked on hard by the MD Philip Harper. The choreography by Barbara Grant looked effective with the vast range of abilities.

The ensemble and supporting cast all put in nice performances with lovely vocals. The lead of Bobbie was brilliantly played by Catherine Cooper. This young lady acted the part beautifully with touching scenes and had a stunning voice which was faultless on her numbers.

Her brother Peter was very well played by Joshua Parker with super characterisation and clear diction. Phyllis the younger sister played by Lola Rigby was a really sweet portrayal with some lovely dance moves. Her cheeky character was very endearing.

Joyce Elder played Mother with a lovely warmth of character and gorgeous vocals. Her acting was very natural and her scenes with the children were lovely. Paul Ward played Father and although not on stage for long in that role, still managed to portray the role very well.

Dean Richardson was very good as Perks who also narrated the show with nice clear diction including his songs which is so important in this role. The Old Gentleman was lovely and warm as portrayed by Colin Dean.

Zack Thornley was great as the Russian Szcepansky and I loved his lullaby sung in Russian. Adam Manning played Dr Forrest and the Engine Driver and had very good stage presence in both but perhaps needed to slow his diction down a little as some dialogue was lost

Overall this was a very enjoyable production with a train at the end of Act 1 and with attention to detail especially on the characterisation which is so important on this show. Everyone concerned worked really hard and should be very proud of their performances.

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