"Identical - The Musical"

Nottingham Playhouse.

"Identical" tells the story of twin girls separated at birth and reunited by chance at a summer camp ten years later. To get to know their parents and reconcile the two halves of their family, they decide to swap places and live each other’s lives. The musical is based on the 1961 film "The Parent Trap" which starred Hayley Mills and remade in 1998 starring Lindsay Lohan. The original film was based on the 1949 Erich Kastner's novel "Lisa and Lottie".

There are some legendary names behind this musical including Sir Trevor Nunn, who directed this; for anyone who does not know of Trevor, he is known for directing some of the most well-known musicals the stage has ever seen, "Cats", "Les Miserables", "Starlight Express", "Sunset Boulevard" to name a few.

"Identical" has music and lyrics by George Stiles and Anthony Drewe, who were responsible for "Honk" as well as the recent musical revivals of "Mary Poppins" and "Kipps".

Another well-known name involved is Producer Kenny Wax. The production is co-produced with The Nottingham Playhouse.

Initially the two ten-year-old girls do not get on while at Summer Camp, due to their uncanny resemblance to the other, but over a short period of time they form a bond and realise that they are actually twin sisters and that their parents, Lisalotte and Johan, separated when they were babies and each parent took one of the twins. They decide that they wanted to each get to know the missing parent so switch places when it's time to go back home, with the hope of getting the two estranged parents to reunite. But things do not go as smoothly as the twins would like.

The cast are Emily Tierney (Lisalotte), James Darch (Johan), Gabrielle Lewis-Dodson (Miss Gerlach), Louise Gold (Rosa/Miss Methusius), Michael Smith-Stewart (Dr Strobel), David Bardsley (Franz/Mr Bernau), Rosie Glossop (Miss Linekogel/Ensemble), Dominic Adam Griffin (Handsome Climber/Ensemble)Ellie Nunn (Miss Ulrike), Winter Jarrett-Glasspool/Parrine Long ( Steffi), Daisy Jeffcoate/Poppy Pawson (Gerda), Isabelle Larrey (Brigitte/Annie), Saffie Layla/Helena Middleton (Truda) and Kirsten Muzvuru (Brigitte).

The rest of the ensemble consist of Rico Bakker, Hannah Cauchl, Paige Fenlon, Jordan Isaac and Rutendo Mushonga. Plus, an ensemble of 28 local children!

The twins are played by Kyla and Nicole Fox, with two other sets of twins, Eden and Emme Patrick and Savannah and Sienna Robinson sharing the roles. The Fox twins were magnificent, and this is the kind of musical that really highlights the talents of the younger actor. There were many times, especially near the start when the children were the only ones on stage for quite a length of time, and to control the stage as they did showed great maturity as a young actor, sorry actors.

It also surprised me to hear the quality of their vocal abilities, as matching in maturity as their acting abilities. This is particularly highlighted in the Act Two duet between Lottie - or was it Lisa - and Miss Gerlach - the ballet dancer fiancée of Johan in "What He Doesn't Need".

There are many things I loved about this new musical, and one of them was the revealing of the back story as to how the separation of the twins, and the breakdown of the marriage came about as Lisalotte and Lisa - or was it Lotte - went on a camping trip; combining two more marvellous songs "The Great Outdoors" and "We Were Young".

The obvious chemistry between the twins need not be mentioned but there is also a lovely chemistry between the twins and Johan and Lisalotte, and the twins and Rosa, Johan's housekeeper. Again, this could be testament to the twins' natural acting abilities. When they went in for hugs with their parents and Rosa, they looked like they were hugging someone they loved, not staged at all like I have seen some young actors portray.

One of the other things that I absolutely loved about this staging was the set design and the video design. I think since lockdown started and ended the quality of video design in the theatre has sky rocketed. The definition and quality is unreal, in fact it looks very real. Practically three dimensional real. It was like looking at an outside scene but through triple glazed windows as the clarity, visually was amazing, you just couldn't hear anything through those windows.

It was like watching a film as one scene segued into another with the change of the design with moving cars, trams, people, trees that swayed in the wind, boats that sailed by. The fluidity of the scenes was so smooth and at times it felt like you were on a ride with the cinematic scenery sweeping past you - not for anyone who suffers from motion sickness! The cinematic element also worked really well in the split screen segment at the cafe and the railway station when the twins returned back to their parents from camp.

This is one of the best combined set and video designs I've seen and hats off to Douglas O Connell for the video design and Robert Jones for the set design.

I also ought to mention the lighting design of Johanna Town and the Sound Design of Paul gatehouse as well which when combined with the above, created something very special.

Matt Cole's choreography is also something special. From the beautiful ballet scene to the ballroom dancing, there was not a foot put wrong anywhere.

Musical Director is Tamara Saringer. There has always been a certain clarity acoustically at the Playhouse, and I have always thought that they ought to stage more musicals due to the wonderful sound that is produced. This lovely soundtrack, which is beautifully old fashioned and bears the hallmarks of Stiles and Drewe's work was lovingly reproduced by Tamara's eight piece band.

"Identical" has that lovely old fashioned, Sunday afternoon movie feel about it. It's very comfortable to watch, very inoffensive, and sometimes you need something of this calibre just to kick back to and let the niceness wash over you.

It is very sweet; sugary enough to bring on tooth decay, but what the heck! I was asked if this was the best musical that I had seen and I answered "no". It's not the best musical but it is a sweet little, albeit long musical with some earworm songs and some excellent acting, dancing and singing, not to mention the brilliant videography, and it's one that you should tick off your list of theatre must sees.

If I am to be honest, I did think that it was just a bit too long, almost three hours with the interval, but where to cut it, I ask myself?

"Identical - The Musical" is at the Nottingham Playhouse until Sunday 14 August.