The Secret Diary of Adrian Mole aged 13 3/4, The Musical

This musical was based on the popular book series by Sue Townsend. It has some brilliant comedy  writing and some great songs, with music and lyrics by Pippa Cleary and Jake Brunger. Wade Ablitt admits he is a huge fan of both the books and the musical. His passion certainly comes through in his interpretation.  He had put together a very talented cast with some young leads and it was hard to believe that some were aged just 13. He also has two teams for some of the younger leads. We saw Team 1, so apologies to those in Team 2 for not being able to mention them but I hear you were all  great.

Aidan Palmer-Garrick was amazing in the lead role of Adrian Mole.  He hardly ever leaves the stage and was word perfect during the whole performance. He captures his character perfectly as he starts to gain enough confidence to speak to the new girl who joins his class at school, Pandora, who he immediately falls in love with.  Mia Brewer is brilliant as the very confident Pandora despite being the youngest in the cast.  They both sang, danced and acted their roles perfectly and will certainly be ones to look out for in the future.

Adrian’s dis-functional parents Pauline and George were played by Catherine Roberts and Ryan Cope. They were a very believable couple and showed a good range of emotions. I loved their harmony singing with Adrian in the song My Lost Love and their duet I Miss Our Life.  This made a good contrast to the plethora of excellent, lively and energetic songs from the rest of the cast well lead by Dermot Gillespie-Gardiner and his six piece band.

Charlotte Sampson had some incredibly quick changes in her duel roles of Miss Elf and Doreen. She captured these characters brilliantly with energy and some great facial expressions. Stephen Lawrence also had dual roles of the teacher, the nasty Mr. Scruton, and,  the smarmy Mr. Lucas determined to have his wicked way with Pauline and lure her away from George. His characterization skills in switching from one to the other was excellent.

There were some great performances from all the very believable characters who gave terrific support to the leads. They all gave us plenty of comedy, loads of brilliant songs and dancing, with innovative choreography with a relatively large cast in a limited acting space. 

The set was skillfully designed and constructed by Dave Borthwick with the use of wooden cubes which were moved around stage by the cast to create different sets; thus ensuring pace was maintained throughout the production.  I particularly admired the dog which he had made, and the way Lucy Mellamphy had wonderfully brought it to life.  The lighting and sound all worked well to enhance the production, and all the costumes looked in keeping for the time period.

The standing ovations were well deserved to Wade and all his cast and crew.   

 

 

© NODA CIO. All rights reserved.