Viva Youth
Theatre proved to be a company well worth watching in their talented
production of Disney’s musical ‘Aladdin Jr.’ at Soham recently. The younger
members of this large group positively sparkled in this glossy production
under the keen directorship of Simon Thompson.
Aladdin
(played by Daniel Bell) and Princess Jasmine (Naomi Rogers) suffered their
series of catastrophic interventions to the path of their love with credible
passion, their fine voices blending beautifully especially in ‘A Whole new
world’. Mike Kowalczyk, as an extremely lithe and charismatic Genie, livened
up events considerably while James Mellor as the evil Jafar inflicted a
succession of dastardly measures in the plot. Jafar was aided and abetted by
his dedicated Lago (Mollie Shaw). Craig Carpenter was an authoritative
Sultan, Jackson Mathod a fine Razoo and the guards (Gavin Kelly and Liam
Watts) were memorable characters in spite of their subservient roles. The
three princes played by Michael Hart, Josh Robins and Philip Evans added
some delightful humour and Kerry Griggs was the prettiest and most cheerful
magic carpet ever seen.
Above all,
the most lasting impression made by this splendid company was the powerful
snazzy singing and dancing by the full company packing the stage and moving
swiftly in highly entertaining choreographed movements. The combined team
effort created a most memorable event in which every contribution had a role
to play, including splendid costumes, ambitious stage set, and astute sound
engineers.
Dr. Rosemary Westwell
