Hairspray Jr
21 to 23 June 2019
21 to 23 June 2019
Read the review of this show by the official NODA representative Tessa Davies
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Director & Choreographer - Emma Jane Sweeney
Musical Director - Ian Southgate Performed at Ingatestone & Fryerning Community Centre on Sunday 23 June 2019 at 2.30pm Young Expressions are a wonderful group of young people with an amazing team of supporters, and it is in the nature of such groups that the cast changes quickly as older children leave, and younger ones join. Having watched their productions for a number of years now it has been such a pleasure to see how the children develop their skills. Hairspray is an ambitious show to perform as it deals with racial prejudice and, in today's more tolerant climate I wonder if the children in the show have an understanding of the issues they are portraying. The writers have made it very clear that the casting should be handled properly and it is a taxing issue for the Director to identify the two different groups in the show. Young Expressions, quite sensibly, chose not to make too much of the diversity of the characters and, instead, focussed on the fun and enjoyment of the music and story. There were a large number of younger cast members, many of whom were on stage for only the first or second time. They performed well and I could see how some of them have progressed since the pantomime. |
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I particularly liked Jorji Mersey as Link Larkin, he gave it a cheeky characterisation and displays great confidence on stage. Amelia Aston-Jobin played the lead role of Tracy Turnblad, with some degree of confidence, my advice to young performers is “just go for it” never be afraid of going too far.
I also liked Cameron Sawyer as Edna Turnblad, an excellent characterisation, a delightful Evan Donnell as a diminutive Corny Collins and Rose Whitwam as Motormouth Maybelle, great vocals Rose, well done.
The other principals were Charlotte Fowle (Penny Pingleton) Ruben de Goni-Parks (Seaweed Stubbs) Lauren Best (Amber von Tussle) Ella Fowle (Velma von Tussle) Harriet Taggart (Little Inez) Ben Shipley (Wilbur Turnblad) and Deanna Holkham (Prudy Pingleton). All of whom produced good characters.
Some of these Principals also played other parts so well done for that. The rest of the ensemble did very well and the whole show was such fun to watch. I would think it was also fun to be in it!
The costumes were very good, and a credit to the backstage crew who do an amazing job. I wasn’t too sure about the ‘caricature’ wigs. I understood the idea but some of them were so large on the children that we struggled to see their faces at times. It was also a shame that they were only on some of the characters so there was no consistency in the ‘look’.
The licence for this junior version of the show requires that backing tracks are used and MD Ian Southgate had a very different job to do than normal. Working to backing tracks is not as easy as people may think. The timing of the dialogue needs to be very carefully done to ensure there are no unintentional pauses before the singing starts. In the main this worked with just a couple of longer pauses.
There were still some problems with the mics and sound in general, but this happens so often in this venue that I suspect it is the venue and not the sound system or the operators.
Overall, a delightful afternoon’s entertainment, well done to both the cast and all the support team that work behind the scenes.
Tessa Davies
I also liked Cameron Sawyer as Edna Turnblad, an excellent characterisation, a delightful Evan Donnell as a diminutive Corny Collins and Rose Whitwam as Motormouth Maybelle, great vocals Rose, well done.
The other principals were Charlotte Fowle (Penny Pingleton) Ruben de Goni-Parks (Seaweed Stubbs) Lauren Best (Amber von Tussle) Ella Fowle (Velma von Tussle) Harriet Taggart (Little Inez) Ben Shipley (Wilbur Turnblad) and Deanna Holkham (Prudy Pingleton). All of whom produced good characters.
Some of these Principals also played other parts so well done for that. The rest of the ensemble did very well and the whole show was such fun to watch. I would think it was also fun to be in it!
The costumes were very good, and a credit to the backstage crew who do an amazing job. I wasn’t too sure about the ‘caricature’ wigs. I understood the idea but some of them were so large on the children that we struggled to see their faces at times. It was also a shame that they were only on some of the characters so there was no consistency in the ‘look’.
The licence for this junior version of the show requires that backing tracks are used and MD Ian Southgate had a very different job to do than normal. Working to backing tracks is not as easy as people may think. The timing of the dialogue needs to be very carefully done to ensure there are no unintentional pauses before the singing starts. In the main this worked with just a couple of longer pauses.
There were still some problems with the mics and sound in general, but this happens so often in this venue that I suspect it is the venue and not the sound system or the operators.
Overall, a delightful afternoon’s entertainment, well done to both the cast and all the support team that work behind the scenes.
Tessa Davies
