We Will Rock You, Young@Part

When I attended this performance, it was a very hot day at the end of the hottest week on record for many years.  So, I was expecting the students to be a bit stressed out, not to mention the teachers!

However, this was not apparent from the front of house where everything was running smoothly.  As I took my seat, I appreciated the spacious seating of the auditorium and although they couldn’t run the air conditioning due to the excessive noise it made, the auditorium was at a comfortable temperature.  

Not that the audience minded, as they clapped and cheered the students in this performance.

It was bold choice of show for this relatively young cast, although the Young@Part versions of major musicals are pared down versions of the original, they are still challenging to perform, and the Principal characters did extremely well.

Zach Spriggs (Galileo Figaro) had a strong stage presence, good projection and singing.  Paired with Charlotte Lockwood (Scaramouche) who also showed great confidence in her acting and singing.   Much of the performance was carried by these two leading actors.  I also liked Florence Atkinson’s performance as Killer Queen, very sassy and strong and Elizabeth Mead’s performance as Khashoggi, commanding and assertive.

Other lead roles were played by Freya Fulton (Britt) Layla-Eve Farrington (Oz) and Isaac Tomkinson (Buddy).  All of them did well with some standout moments in their performances.

The members of the ensemble did a good job, with strong singing and excellent stage awareness, I must mention the very youngest members of the cast who were well drilled and made their entrances and exits on cue.

Because the original show has a lot of adult related dialogue, most of which is removed for this version, the show was largely all the songs with some limited dialogue and staging to link them together.  Even so, it was a cohesive and fluid production with a good pace.

The set was simple with small pieces brought on as required and the costumes were well thought out and effective.

Lighting was appropriate and, I suspect due to the very limited 2 performance run, not all the cast were in the right place for the lights to pick them up.  However, credit to the lighting techies who carefully brought the lights into the right place to allow us to enjoy the actors’ performances.

It was a shame that the supply of head mics was limited as we could not hear some of the dialogue from the unmic’d performers, who did not project enough into the large auditorium.   Not that the audience were concerned, as they cheered and clapped all the students, quite rightly, for such an energetic and enthusiastic performance.

It must have been an exhausting day for both cast and crew who were all fully committed to putting on this performance.

I thoroughly enjoyed seeing the students performing and it was obvious that they were enjoying the experience, well done to all and thank you for your hospitality.

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