"The Wind In The Willows - The Musical" by Blind Eye.

Duchess Theatre, Long Eaton.

This story takes me right back to when I was a kid, watching "Tales Of The Riverbank" on black and white TV; the TV programme was originally filmed in black and white, just in case you thought my childhood started when TV was only in black and white!

This is the first time that I have seen the musical version of this delightful play, so although knowing the basic story, I was more than excited to see the musical version. 

"Wind In The Willows" is written by Julian Fellowes, whose name may ring a bell as he also was responsible for writing "Downton Abbey". The music and lyrics are by George Stiles and Anthony Drewe, who have been responsible for several of the more recent revivalist musicals around at the moment like "Kipps" and "Mary Poppins" plus the wonderful new musical "Becoming Nancy". The musical is based on the 1908 novel of the same name, written by Kenneth Grahame. 

Listen carefully and you might also spot some other musical theatre influences in their work. I am sure I heard echoes of "Hamilton" as well as "Les Miserables" in a couple of the songs.

This comedy musical follows Mole, Ratty, Badger, and the impulsive and amazing Mr. Toad, whose insatiable need for speed lands him in serious trouble. With his beloved home under threat from the notorious Chief Weasel and his gang of sinister Wild Wooders, Toad must attempt a daring escape leading to a series of misadventures and a heroic battle to recapture Toad Hall.

Ratty is kind, sociable, and accommodating, much like the actor who plays him,  JJ McCormack. Brilliant fun character and very different to his last role as Stanley Kowalski in "A Streetcar Named Desire". Playing Ratty, the water rat, brings out the fun, playful side of JJ, and if you look closely, you can see his eyes twinkling with joy.

Mr Toad is played by Bertie Black, an inspired piece of casting. Toad is the flightiest and pettiest character in this musical, due to a combination of immaturity and unrestrained wealth. He represents the British upper class, as he is an aristocrat living in his large inherited estate, Toad Hall, and has a snooty attitude towards those of lower class. The "youngest" of the animals, he is quick to pick up and then dismiss expensive hobbies, most notably with motorcars. Bertie has the unrivalled energy for this role as well as the excitable singing style needed for this eccentric, but lovable character.

Max Wilmott plays Mole, who serves as our first lens into the story, as Mole slowly matures from a frightened animal into a self-reliant, brave and clever companion. Max played a couple of minor roles in "Streetcar" for Blind Eye, but what a discovery this young man is. He has a wonderful voice for musical theatre and gets to sing one of my favourite songs from the soundtrack, "A Place To Come Back To". Max is a very expressive actor, and combined with his vocal ability, he is going to be in demand for many various theatre roles. I can see his theatrical CV being filled to the max in the next twelve months and beyond.

Badger, the "oldest" of the animals, Badger is a stoic and solitary character who lives in the Wild Wood, is played by Kevin Jones. Now, here is another discovery that made me sit up! I've seen Kevin in several shows in the past few years, so his acting talents come as no surprise, but what does is that singing voice. This production really highlights some real hidden talents from actors and performers who have been seen on local stages, but spotlights talents we may not have seen before. A great authoritive performance, while still showing that caring side of the character.

Mrs Otter, is quick and bright, and gains the respect of other animals by always being on hand to help when needed. Mrs Otter is played by Andrea Caulfield-Smith.

Mrs Otter's daughter Portia, is played by Gabriella Tilley. Portia always seems to be disappearing, worrying her mother, but she causes much more worry later on in the story. A nice fun role for Gabriella.

Chief Weasel is played by Alex Sjoberg- Weeks, who stepped into the role with just ten days' notice. Not that you would have noticed because her performance was smooth and faultless. The nasty characters are always more fun to play and Alexandra looked as if she was having a great time being evil. The audience even saved some panto style baddie boos for her at the final bows, showing that she hit all the right notes with them.

Lesser Weasel and  Sheryl Stoat is played by Emme Gunn. Another pair of roles deserving panto style boos, but so much fun in the nasty department.

Mr and Mrs Hedgehog are played by James and Danielle Rodgers, who with the cutest of baby hedgehogs gave us a highway code lesson we could all take note of where the safety of hedgehogs is concerned on the open road, in the song "The Hedgehog's Nightmare". A quality comedy quartet.

The trio of swallows are played by Ashleigh Wilkinson, Emily Hudson and Gill Cook. Their spotlight song, "A Swallow Does Not A Summer Make" provided a lovely operatic style section.

The adult ensemble consist of Beth Duffy, Paul Marples, Paul Duffy (why have we not heard Paul singing on stage before?), Lindsey Hemingway (go on, see if you can count how many different characters she plays here), Ann Colgan, Steve Webb, Adam Chapman, Emily Hudson, James Rodgers, Danielle Rodgers, Kay Thomason-Vardy and Gill Cook. All of them don many costumes and hats throughout. 

  

The children's ensemble are played by Evan Thomason-Vardy, Lexie Rodgers, Caitlin Rodgers, Emily Ractliffe, Lily O’Toole and Olivia Thomason-Vardy. These have to be the cutest children's ensemble ever and boy, do they give 110% in everything that they do on stage. Some get to perform small solo sections and is there any sign of nerves? Not one. They all look as if they are loving being on stage, and that comes out in the performances they give.

Directed by Zackary McCormack in his directorial debut. Regular readers of my reviews will know his name because Zack is responsible for all of the set construction, along with Grant Hemingway, but it looks as if his talents are not just resigned to set construction, but also in directing. Zack was assisted in the directing stakes by Kirsty Smith.

Musical Director is Sam Griffiths, who also stepped into the breach at the last minute. Sam is the musical hero you need when you need a stand in MD, and it was good to see him on local soil again. This is a musical which has many earworms; for me "A Friend Is Still A Friend", "Messing About In A Boat", "Hush" and "A Place To Come Back To" are still rattling around my eardrums.

Choreographed by Ashleigh Wilkinson, and if I know anything about Ashleigh, she will have put this cast through their paces. How do I know that? Just take a look at the choreography standard in this musical!

The set design is by Grant Hemingway and Zack Mccormack, and up to their usual high standards.

There's an audio/visual design backdrop that worked well with placing the characters and showing the scenery of the story, i.e. the river, the woods and Toad Hall among the various scenes. This area of production was created by Paul Duffy.

Sound design is by Nick Elliott and Dom Mills. On a personal level, I would have liked the volume of the backing tracks to be just a little lower because at times the music slightly drowned some of the vocals. Apart from that, everything was spot on with everything to do with the sound department.

Lighting design is by Alan Betton and Ben Bradley. There was just one scene where the cast were in shadows, stage left, but, as this is the first time that I have seen this show as a musical, I was in two minds as to whether this was supposed to be how it was supposed to look, and that the animals were supposed to be hiding in the shadows. I'd like to think that this is what was intended.

There are some brilliant costumes in this musical. I loved the way that you could tell who the characters, and the animals were just by the costume design, the make up and addition of wigs etc. Mole could only have been Mole because of the glasses. the Hedgehog family had spines on their shoulders and cute black noses. Ratty had his long rat-like tail. Badger was dressed up to the nines in grey which accentuated his standing in the animal community. Toad had the most layered costume, apart from his striped prison outfit, and his prison escape costume (sorry for any spoilers). 

Blind Eye always seem to work to their members strong points and JJ's costume designs are brilliantly thought out to instantly show who these characters are without a word being said or anything explanatory given.

Apart from panto, there aren't that many all family entertainment plays and musicals going around the circuit at the moment. This is one that every age will love, so grab the kids and their Grandparents and see this show. 

With every show that Blind Eye put on, they always like to give back by holding collections for charities appropriate to the show, and this is no different. Blind Eye are collecting for Nottingham Wildlife Trust as well as a charity called Breakthrough T1D, which supports Type 1 Diabetes.

"The Wind In The Willows - The Musical" is at the Duchess Theatre in Long Eaton until Saturday 23 November, but tickets for the rest of the run are limited, speed is of the essence so grab them now and don't be a party poop pooper!!