Let’s get one thing straight before I start; I was a child of the 70’s and a teenager of the 80’s. The music in this jukebox musical is all from the era that I am probably still stuck in and therefore it all speaks to me. That potentially creates one of the key difficulties with this Musical (and this is not a comment in relation to this production, but the show in general) – it is written to be performed by (predominantly) a cast of 17 & 18 year olds but now, some 26 years since the 80’s came to an end, the references to the period and the music are largely lost on a cast who have no link to the time involved. Add to this the unknown quantity that is a school production (some are amazing, some are painful and many fall in the space between) and I arrived at Tytherington School with some little trepidation.
Before looking at the production, what of the story? Really, the script is purely a vehicle to move between songs (and there are plenty of them). The writing pays homage to another key reference point of the 1980’s, the TV show “The Wonder Years”. In our production, the story is “narrated” by Corey Feldman as a thirty something, reminiscing about his days in the graduating class of William Ocean High School in 1989. Feldman was the nice “boy next door” type who had a group of similarly minded friends. He wasn’t one of the cool kids, neither was he a geek. He had a huge crush on his class mate Tiffany Houston (a cheerleader) who in turn had the hots for Michael Feldman (the jock, football playing cool kid at school). Chuck in a few geeks (Fergal McFerrin III, Laura Wilde and Debbie Fox), the good time girl (Cyndi Gibson) a new classmate in town (Eileen Reagan) and the on/off relationship between the Maths teacher (Stevie Cocker) and the Senior Student Co-Ordinator (Sheena Brannigan) and you have the makings of a re-run of every type of teen “drama” from the time (think Beverley Hills 90210, Buffy (without the vampires), Doogie Howser, Ferris Bueller’s Day Off etc.). The script is packed full of 80’s references (just in case the character names didn’t give that away) including nods to Star Wars, Karate Kid and the ever present Rubik’s Cube.
The production was staged in the school hall which benefits from a proscenium stage. This was extended down towards the floor to provide more interesting heights and to accommodate a large cast of 48 performers. Set was basic; a box set with a couple of cloth cues. Being a school with ready access to lockers, there were a number of sets of lockers around the stage which proved very useful throughout (particularly for the disappearing and reappearing Feargal). Lighting was, again, basic and would have benefitted from a little more variation and the introduction of colour. The sound, tonight, was poor with numerous microphones either cutting out or not actually coming on. I hope this is addressed for the next few nights as it made it difficult to hear some of the lyrics in the songs – even from the front row.
The entire Company were extremely well drilled in their choreography under the instruction of Jenna Finnigan, and the dance numbers were almost all high energy and on point. The show needs oodles of energy from its performers and this was evident from the choreography in the first number and continued throughout the show. The band, set stage right and comprising a mixture of staff and students, were well drilled by Dave Lilley and provided an excellent balanced sound. Particular mention should be made of Lili Holland-Fricke on bass who, throughout, provided the punch that lots of these 80’s numbers needed, and Jack Staniland’s saxophone solo in “Time Of My Life”. The production was well directed by Rachel Fellows and Jessica Higgins who did well to keep the humour that was so out of time for the young people on stage. Just one criticism, ladies, and that is to watch sightlines – there were aspects of the dialogue that were lost due to masking – although I appreciate that it must be difficult with so many bodies on stage.
So, what of the cast? On the whole, the cast were strong. Declan Sutcliffe provided a suitably “cute” Corey junior, eliciting the “ahhs” from the audience at the right time. He was ably supported by Lewis Peal and Chris Croxford as Alf and Kirk, his slightly manic two stooges. The rapport between these three young performers was strong and they bounced off each other well. The love interest, Tiffany, was performed strongly by Amy Leech who acted well throughout. Unfortunately, hers was one of the mics that went down early in the show and, although I am sure she has a beautiful voice, she frequently lacked the projection to get over the band. Her bunch of cronies (Ellie Hall, Tallulah Howarth, Emily Griffen and Caitlin Hunter) maintained individual characters throughout and supported Amy well. Particular note should be made of Ellie Foy as Whitney who stood out in the group as being particularly strong throughout. Again, the “Geeks’ (Tilly Bird, Lucy Edwards, Lucy Burdock and Laura Nancollis) maintained individual characters throughout and provided a good amount of humour. Luke Buck, as Corey Senior, delivered a lovely dry performance with good timing; a particularly difficult job when you don’t actually interact with the cast at all. I felt we lost much of the characters of Mr Cocker (Dougie Skelton) and Miss Brannigan (Rosie Ogden) as much of their storyline was cut; and this was a shame – I was looking forward to seeing how their relationship developed during Act 2 but it never actually happened.
Particular credit has to be paid to the following though. Henry Bridgett as the cool (if somewhat unpleasant) Michael was excellent and absolutely pulled off the “Danny Zuko” type character. His singing was strong and his performance stood out. He was superbly backed by his cronies (Gregor Watson and Harrison McGovern) and had a wonderful comic foil in Toby Morton Collins as Huey who, for one so young, had excellent comic timing and made the most of what was a fairly small role. Esther Purves as Eileen was strong throughout, maintaining excellent character, strong vocals and good movement – a triple threat. Feargal, played by Ben Holland Frick, was again excellent; good comic timing and a nice rapport with the audience. Taemar Lancaster, who took the role of featured vocalist has a fantastic voice – particularly noticeable in “Total Eclipse of the Heart” – I got the feeling that she was holding back and was willing her to let rip with the songs that she has; Taemar, you have a great voice – believe in it! Last, but by no means least, the star of the show for me was Brooke Lancaster’s Cyndi. She absolutely nailed the character and acted every second she was on stage. She sang well, moved well and really held the attention. She is an excellent model for other young performers as, even when she was in mime away from the action, she maintained character and attitude without upstaging the main focus. Exceptionally well done. The Company, on the whole, performed well throughout – just remember guys that even if you are sitting on a bench as far upstage as you can be, you are still on and are still performing.
Yes, accents wavered and there were a couple of pitchy moments – but that is to be expected in a school production (I have heard dodgy accents on the Palace stage before now!) and this did not detract from what was an energetic and enjoyable production. Did I need to feel trepidation? Hell no! It was an “awesome” night’s entertainment. Well done all!!
Reviewer: Paul Wilson
Reviewed: 5th July 2016
