There’s nothing to cheer you up more than the welcoming front of house team showing you to your seats in a hall bubbling with anticipation. And we were not disappointed! Fairy Fortune (Kayla Aitchison) opened the show by telling the story so far. With lovely clear diction and a graceful stage presence she provided a beautiful opening. She later on made good use of a particularly haunting singing voice. Then we were transported to the Queen’s Dressing Room to meet the “Queen of Mean” herself, Queen Avarice (Miah Hindhaugh) who played her role with malice and had the youngsters shrink back in their seats. However, Queen of Mean came with a powerful voice which was particularly obvious in “Rotten to the Core”. This was the first introduction to Merlina of the Magic Mirror (Sophie Crowe) who was sarcastic but truthful with all her words delivered clearly and another beautiful singing voice. Another quick scene change saw us in the palace courtyard with a lively number delivered by the dancers and chorus. It was nice to see the chorus being used to deliver many of the lines and to see the well-rehearsed moves and obvious enjoyment. A good supporting, enthusiastic chorus was provided by Sonny Cowe-Lough, Ava Crowe, Caleb Davie, Neve Keillor, Isla Nieuwenhuys, Maci Walker and Ruby Walker. And then the grand entrance of Edna Bouquet (Andrew Calder) the palace housekeeper who led the next number of “Good as Hell”. The character was delightfully over the top and supported the youngsters well. Snow White (Holly Drummond-Cowe) was a beautiful Snow White with a lovely clear voice especially in her tricky solos. Next up was Chuckles (Heidi Blake) who from the get-go commanded the stage and held the show together with well delivered “cheesy jokes” and rousing vocals. Justice Quill (Stuart Haddow) and his scribe Scribbles (Cameron Haddow) played the comedy duo with ease showing great comic timing. Prince Ferdinand (Anna Campbell) proved to be a commanding principal boy handling her vocals with spirit. Of course, the show would be nothing without Brainy (Ebony Davie), Smiley (Sophie Gibbs), Dozy (Abigail Potts), Grumbly (Kaylin Davie), Blushful (Katie Crowe), Snoozy (Flora Sidney) and the surprisingly tall Sniffle (Kenny Combe) who had apparently been in a growbag. This lively group remained in character throughout and definitely helped the story flow along. We mustn’t forget the Queen’s henchman Slurp (Micah Davie) who delivered his lines like a seasoned performer. The dancers (Sarah Campbell, Farah Lark, Lily Pringle, Kelsey Shell and Eden Turnbull) provided a well rehearsed repertoire throughout with graceful moves and some quick costume changes. The production enjoyed stunning costumes, lovely lighting, sound and scenery to compliment the scenes. Slick scene changes moved us from one scene to another. On the night I was there the prompt (Ethne Turnbull) must have had a nice rest. Special mention must be made of the finale which although a departure from the usual walkdowns used the strong voices to good effect and was a sparkling spectacle. The enthusiasm was obvious and I went home singing A Thousand Miles! All in all a fantastically enjoyable production as was proved by the enthusiastic applause. Well done everyone!
LY
