"Nativity The Musical" by The Young Performers

Duchess Theatre, Long Eaton.

If you are suffering from the January blues, The Young Performers have the perfect tonic in this fun musical.

Feel-good, funny and full of joy, this cracker of a musical is about St Bernadette's School set in Coventry, and they are mounting a musical version of The Nativity, which also involves a side serving of rivalry with another school, Oakmoor Prep.

Paul Maddens, Jennifer Lore and Gordon Shakespeare were once close friends but when Gordon and Paul became school drama team rivals, and Jennifer received a job offer in Hollywood, the three friends grew apart. This was especially hard on Paul as he and Jennifer were on the brink of matrimony, albeit unbeknown to Jennifer, as on the day Paul was due to propose, Jennifer broke the news of the job offer and Paul just could not stand in her way of happiness.

Paul did not want to repeat the previous attempt at The Nativity, when a local drama critic gave the show minus two stars and Gordon's production five stars, but the head teacher of St Bernadette's, Mrs Beaven, gave him the job to produce the new version of The Nativity, Paul was horrified. Enter Mr Poppy to help out! Mr Poppy overhears Paul telling Gordon that he is going to beat Gordon's festive production and that Hollywood were coming to film the St Bernadette's production, and very soon word spread. Now all Paul has to do is get Hollywood to travel to Coventry to see their school's Nativity!

The Young Performers have a brilliant cast, numbering 34, who positively sparkle and three leads within the cast that shine exceedingly bright.

James Pedrick (Gordon Shakespeare) is a brilliant character actor who has a special talent to make the audience dislike - in the nicest of panto baddie ways - the character he plays. You can feel your skin itch every time Shakespeare comes onto the stage and that is all due to the characterisation given by James. I've had the pleasure of seeing James on stage before and just knew that he would smash this role because I have seen his capability before.

I have seen the original actor, Simon Lipkin, from the movie play Mr Poppy on stage and he is wonderfully childish in character. Louis Dexter (Mr Poppy) here is also wonderfully childish, which you'd imagine from a young actor, but he also has a special gift for making you see an adult pretending to be childish, while still a young person himself. Great fun to watch and you know that he has won the audience over with one scene in Act Two where the audience empathised with the situation he has found himself in at that stage. More than that I am not going to tell you, but you just know that he has the audience exactly where Louis and his character want them. 

Drew Boswell (Paul Maddens) excelled himself, and I will tell you why. He not only can act incredibly well, but he acts with his face; he can create a reaction from just a facial expression, and that is not something that some young actors can master. He gets inside the character of the frustrated Maddens and delivers the lines as if he were Maddens himself. He understands the character and the delivered lines with lovely expression and emotion. Drew reminds me of actor/comedian Hugh Dennis visually and has a singing voice that reminded me of a young Harry Nilsson and I can see Drew having a successful acting career if he carries on like he has been doing.

These three leads are mini magicians as they create the illusion that we are watching adults, not young actors playing adults, and you soon forget the ages of the actors on stage and see past this and that is so important for an actor to create that illusion and belief in the character they are watching.

I must not forget to mention as well Scarlet Hutchings (Jennifer Lore) and Ruby Garrison (Mrs Beaven) in a male dominated set of leads, both held their own acting and singing wise.

Zak Charlesworth has directed another successful piece of theatre with this perfectly cast musical, which is a perfect choice for the age of the actors.

George Parkinson is the Musical Director for the Young Performers Band and sounding pretty good. There are plenty of earworm pieces in the soundtrack including "Sparkle & Shine", "One Night One Moment", "Nazereth" and "My Very First Day At School".

Vicky Byrne does a great job with the choreography, especially with the size of the cast.

Dave Dallard is Sound Designer and Dave Martin is Lighting Designer.

For anyone who has any interest in stage craft and managing a stage, this production is perfect for anyone who wants to delve into this particular facet of local theatre as there are 45 scenes to manage. With the large cast, stage management has to be spot on, and Roydon Charlesworth and gang showed how it's done. Not even phased by the one scenery issue which caused a gasp from the audience but stage management and cast were professional in the resolve.

Putting on any show is never an easy task but this group have done a brilliant job. The large cast, brilliant costumes, sheer professionalism of everyone on - and off stage, not to mention the enthusiasm, merits the almost full auditorium, and this is just on opening night. I hope that ticket sales continue in this fashion as you get plenty of bang for your buck with this production.

"Nativity The Musical" is at the Duchess Theatre in Long Eaton until Saturday 22 January.