A virtual sell out audience were treated to four terrific performances that will live long in the memory. As a reviewer, it is hard to know where to start? What to mention? Who to name? In truth the whole thing was so good that the simple word “wow” would sum up the show more than adequately. The creative team of Daniel Schumann, David Tickner and Angela Bocking are amongst the best that will be found locally (and much further beyond).The three of them formed a cast and production team that did this classic piece of musical theatre proud.
Although officially the “School Edition”, in truth the performances were not that far away from what you will see on the West End. It was easy to forget that the cast were all youngsters. Yet again this theatre group showed great maturity on stage. I will profess here and now to knowing many of them, and am pleased to say that you will struggle to get a nicer bunch of youngsters anywhere. The stage disciplines engendered by Viva clearly spill over into their offstage life. I would recommend anyone with youngsters interested in musical theatre to go and see Viva Youth Theatre – they are truly an inspiration.
Okay, and so on to the show itself: It is hard to pick out individual names, for not to mention anyone is perceived as an insult. The truth be told that they were all superb. Lead James Mellor as Jean Valjean was his usual excellent self, producing a rendition of “Bring him home” that made many cry. From past experience I would also expect Shellie Baigent (Fantine) and Daniel Bell (Marius) to also be very good, and indeed they were more than good. On the Saturday night Dan Bells “Marius” was spot on and in my humble opinion bettered the recent West End version of the character I recently watched.
It was probably some of the talents that were unfamiliar to me that really hit a chord. Sam Mackrill playing Javert delivered a masterful performance, really bringing out the menace of his character and the emotional turmoil that leads to his destruction. The Thenardiers played by Ralph Watts and Ellie Gillett produced performances that belied their age. Ralph and Ellie combined comedy with tremendous musical skill that had everyone spellbound. I watched the two of them three times and could watch them again and again. Meanwhile Philip Evans, playing Gavroche improves rapidly with every performance. Philip delivered his cheeky character perfectly – watch out Broadway! Then we have Laura Day as young Cozette, melting the audiences hearts with an abundance of sweetness , matched with a lovely voice.
The two greatest revelations for me were Naomi Rogers (Cosette) and Jessica Theobald (Eponine). I never realised what fine voices both had. You will have to go a very long way to find better singers. I could write a long review just on these two. They were simply mesmerising. The rest of the cast were also superb. Student leader Oliver Ellerton produced a strong performance, looking every inch the part as he dominated the barricade. But to be honest the whole ensemble were very strong. What sets these youngsters apart is their attention to detail, not only musically, but in terms of acting as well. Not one of them ever appeared out of character on stage.
An eleven strong orchestra complemented the voices well, never over-powering the singing and note perfect. A superb result from Angela Bocking, Stephen Kenna and Melody Bell. The costumes were to say the least, lavish. As you might expect from Lynn Quelch at County Drama Wardrobe, they were perfect for the period and simply stunning. Again, it was details, like the authenticity of the costumes that made this production so superior. I wondered how Viva would manage the barricade scene, which on the West End involves a turning stage. The Viva scenery construction team should never be underestimated though, and came up with a terrific barricade on wheels, spun round on a central pivot by the cast – it worked fantastically. This leads me on to the stage team in general. I often get annoyed that amateur groups seem to sometimes take an eternity to change a set. Not so the Viva team, who made had clearly choreographed every set change movement ensuring that the show continued at its perfect pace. Lets not forget the excellent sound and lighting and it all adds up to a wonderful show.
Looking back at this review it seems all to be a tale of good news. But that is exactly what it is – just ask the other 1000 or so people that gave each performance a standing ovation. Could they improve on the show – yes – by providing more performances so that we could all watch it again and again and again. As I said at the start “wow”!
