The Wedding Singer

Bacup Royal Court Theatre was packed to the rafters when myself and my guest took our seats for  X-rays production of The Wedding Singer. There was an open stage with a large projection screen at the rear, a gauze ,a  full width rostron went across  with white  draping, the floor had been painted with random sets of black and white checks. The side flats had been covered with pleated material and had up lighters at the bottom. It all looked very effective. When the gauze was lifted it  revealed a small raised dais area that held cabaret style seating , and an area at the very back for the wedding band under a metal type archway. The actual band were situated in a sunken orchestra pit in front of the stage and were ably conducted by Jonathan Chalker. Jonathan kept great pace throughout the show, there were no missed musical entrances and there were some great solid harmonies that came through the singing. Props were handled by the cast with confidence, the cast also brought on any extra set pieces themselves - this allowed the production to continue with great pace instead of blackout interruption. The costumes hair and makeup were very fitting to the piece, I particularly enjoyed the way a colour wash was used across some of the scenes with costume and lights. The sound was a very good quality throughout the show there were no gremlins or missed entrances that I heard. The lighting plot was innovative and exciting (I have already mentioned the colour washing effect used ), it complemented the scenes well. I must mention the water scene with Holly( Fayhe-Louise Mitchell), it was obvious that a lot of thought had gone into it and it paid off, Well Done!

Ronan Pilkington as Robbie Hart was a very believable actor, he enveloped himself fully in the character- he had some strong vocals with nice tone, there was some lovely light and shade in his vocals and in his performance, diction was good . Hannah Walker portrayed Julia Sullivan in a lovely soft manner, she gave us some pleasant vocals and used her stage space well. There was some lovely on stage chemistry between Robbie and Julia. Fayhe -Louise Mitchell as sassy best friend Holly was phenomenal, the moment she appeared on stage her energy was evident. She knocked out some strong vocals and and delivered some even stronger choreography, diction was good, she had a great connection with the audience. Deni Griffiths as Sammy delivered his performance with confidence and  swag, he had some great on stage  chemistry with Fayhe-Louise. Deni gave us some pleasant vocals, his diction was good and he showed good knowledge of where his other cast members were on stage. He had some great one liners with his bandmates Robbie (Ronan Pilkington) and  George (Michael Haworth), Michael's portrayal of George and George`s facial expressions was comedy genius -he stole the scenes for me.  Charlie Ormerod  as Robbie`s  ex-girlfriend Linda also delivered some very strong choreography and some strong vocals, she was confident and had some stage presence. Lori- Mae Maddock as Grandma Rosie was perfectly cast, she portrayed the comedic side of the character perfectly and her delivery of the rap was on point. 

The ensemble worked incredibly hard during this production, they brought some fantastic strong vocals with lots of harmonies in them and they delivered some slick choreography with energy and gusto. The show was directed and choreographed by Millie Hall, she is definitely one to look out for in the future, she's bringing more and more innovative ideas to the stage. Well done X-rays on your production of The Wedding Singer ,both  myself and my guest thoroughly enjoyed your performance as did all the audience judging by your standing ovation. See you all very soon. 

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