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BEES Youth Group
The Princess Theatre
Burnham on Sea
Sunday 26th November 2017
It is always a pleasure to watch a show presented by a group who are new to the David Beach Competition and when it is the youth section of the group it is even better. The warm welcome by Director James Ballantyne and Choreographer Sarah Loveridge and brief discussion with them showed how passionate they are about their production and the group of young performers involved in it. The Princess Theatre is a friendly venue, matched by the friendliness of the volunteers running it, a great centre for a community. A nice place to spend a cold, wet Sunday afternoon.
Andrew Lloyd Webber’s musical rendering of T S Eliot’s poetry is complex enough, especially for a young cast so the creative team’s decision to slightly simplify the usual Cats set whilst retaining the multiple entrances, exits, levels and general feel was a good one. In addition, the use of recorded backing music was sensible: a full sound without the need for a full orchestra and the ability to rehearse with the actual tracks that would be used in performance. Musical Director Frances Webb could concentrate on the cast’s singing of this challenging show. The pre-show state of the stage was attractive: blue lighting and a glittery star-cloth backdrop lending glamour to the agglomeration of washing machines, old signs, a scrapped car comprising the junk-yard set.
Then the Cats appeared! They looked fantastic: the iconic leotards enhanced with terrific, individual face painting and outrageous wigs and all fully occupying their characters. From the very youngest kitten at four years old to the ancient(!) seniors at eighteen everyone grasped the feline movement the show demands. Focus was impressive from the entire Ensemble too. Everyone stayed in character throughout; wandering attention can do much to break the theatrical spell.
Choreographer Sarah had pulled no punches with her demands on the young cast. Of course Cats is famous for being a dance-oriented show but the routines do not create (or dance) themselves. An extraordinary amount of work must have gone into devising, teaching, learning and rehearsing all of the routines.
Musically there were some lovely moments in the show; MD Frances must be as hard a taskmaster as Sarah! Ensemble singing was enthusiastic, pretty tuneful but also, importantly very clear: every word could be heard. Principals were similarly clear. I might, perhaps have liked a little more attack, from all the singers: I wonder if a louder backing track might have driven the singers to push a little harder?
Principal performers stepped into their roles well, giving real individuality to each part. It is all too easy to be a generic cat but the success of this show depends on the various leading characters being clearly distinguishable from one another. Olivia Bird’s Munkustrap was immediately visible as she played her narrator role with good confidence and presence; Melissa Fear as The Rum Tum Tugger showed her experience and powerful, bluesy voice – I am sure she will make the move into the senior group well; May Ladbroke’s Grizabella had a lovely degree of pathos and we all felt for the poor old cat, suffering in her faded glamour; Mungo Jerry was played with charm and impressive gymnastic dance moves by Eva Atkinson. Connie Patterson showed off her soaring soprano voice as Old Deuteronomy; Mimi French showed some impressive dance and movement as Mr Mistoffelees; Rachel Nichol and Heidi Barnett’s Demeter and Skimbleshanks were nicely distinctive; Raef Robins’ Macavity, Daisy Criddle’s Bombalurina, Izzy Bird’s Jellyorum, Grace Mills’ Jemima, Lillie Hannett’s Jennyanydots and Ava Mill’s Gus all stood out as clear individuals.
For me there were a couple of stand-out performers who lit up the stage with their presence and attitude: Beau Plested as a very funny Bustopher Jones and Chloe Wakling as a charming and funny Rumpleteazer. Having said that Natalie, Alex, Bethan, Cameron, Evelyn, Evie, Francesca, Katie, Leo, Maisie, Millie, Nathaniel, Niamh, Zara, Elissa, Paige, Pip, Amelia, Hannah and Lola should all be very proud of themselves too.
BEES’ Cats was one of the best things about local theatre: This was true community theatre – Musical theatre by the community for the community. The organisation is giving a huge amount of local young people a taste of musical theatre: keeping our favourite art form alive. Can I honestly say this was a West End standard of production? Well… not quite but ‘great oaks from little acorns grow’ and who is to say who from this enthusiastic cast will not end up gracing stages from Berlin to Broadway? The sell-out audience loved it and what more could you want!
Well done BEES – I look forward to your next show already
Thanks for inviting me