"Annie Jr" by Arts Theatre Summer School

Nottingham Arts Theatre.

Every year, Nottingham Arts theatre run a three-week Summer School where kids who enjoy singing, dancing and acting attend a week's training. On the fifth day, they perform the show that they have been learning and rehearsing to show parents and family, as well as anyone else who would love to see the show.

What these young people achieve in just five days is incredible. They find out the show they are doing, learn the script, choreography and songs, as well as stage craft and put on a show, something most adults may have trouble with.

"Annie Jr" is the perfect vehicle for this kind of thing, mainly because the age of the characters are close to the actors own age - well apart from the adult roles of course. I've seen "Grease Jr", "Fame Jr" and even "Chicago Jr" and have felt that they don't quite fit into the age range for a junior production, mainly due to the content in the full-blown version of the musicals, and by cutting out some of the scenes from them, felt like chunks of the story were also lost. Not so with "Annie Jr".

Everyone knows the story of the little orphan Annie who is adopted by the richest man in America, Daddy Warbucks, and the conniving scheme to get their hands on the reward money offered by Daddy Warbucks to locate Annie's real parents by Rooster Hannigan, Miss Hannigan and Lily, Rooster's latest squeeze. 

So now let me get to the part I really love......

The Orphans were played by Sophia Rees (Molly), Lorelei Allen-Betts (Tessie), Cait Phelan (Kate), Charlotte Simmonds (July), Heli Lewis (Duffy), Esme Allen-Betts (Salt), Sydney Adams (Pepper), Emily Dexter, Evelyn Hornsby, Juliet Morgan, Rhys Phelan, Tayana Davis-Betani, Sophie Dexter, Jasmine Smalley, Jacob Smalley, Bethan Styles, Annie Lucia and Mowbray Rees. What a brilliant and tight chorus of voices they made.

Annie was played by Caitlin Robinson, who was bursting with confidence, and what a lovely voice she has. I was expecting a voice that was quite twee, but what I got was a really distinctive and quite mature voice which was note perfect.

Neave Kielty (Miss Hannigan) also oozes confidence and another wonderful voice. I could imagine her singing in shows like "Bugsy Malone" or "Bonnie & Clyde".

Neave's brother Billy Kielty shows that the acting talent runs in the family as Rooster, and I loved his shoulder choreography.

Kate Russell looked the part as Rooster's latest moll, Lily.

George Young, who I've seen on stage before so I knew that as Oliver Warbucks, we were in for a reliably good performance, and his vocals have really come on from when I last saw him on stage.

Scarlett Coleman-Smith gave a very mature performance as Grace Ferrell, Warbucks personal secretary.

Daddy Warbucks' staff were played by Harry Smith (Drake), Harriet Campion (Cecile), Eloise Rees (Mrs Greer), Stephanie Booth (Annette) and Caitlin Young (Mrs Pugh).

Arlo Perrons (Bundles McCloskey - the laundry man), Harry Smith (The Apple Seller), Rhys Phelan (Dogcatcher/ President Roosevelt), Se Phelan (Officer Ward/ Bert Healey), Bethan Styles (Sandy - the dog - who must have been sweltering in that costume), Caitlyn Young (the Usherette), Jessica Healey (Mrs Healy), Sophie Benner (the Star To Be), Jacob Smalley (Louis Howe) with various adult roles played by Angel Coles, Arlo Perrons, Caitlin Young, Connie Armstrong, Hermione Cumbers, Jessica Healey, Se Phelan and Sophie Benner.

Produced, Directed and Choreographed by Amy Rogers-Gee, who does an incredible job with these Summer Schools and heads a talented team of Jessica Royce (Musical Director), Daisy Donoghue (Production Assistant), Rowan Arnold (Stage Manager), Esther Coleman-Smith (Costumes).

Something that the kids have to learn is timing, especially when the music is on a backing track, so they have to hit their cues first time, which they all did, and while there were only a few missed sound cues (I was told that there had been issues with the sound desk), the technical side of the show was as good as it gets.

Peter Hodgkinson was the sound man and lighting by Evanne Webster.

As mentioned previously, the performances were very confident, and you could tell that the young actors had really enjoyed the week and the show that they had just performed.

"Annie" is a favourite of mine, it's just a lovely story, and this production proves that in just a short space of time (four and a half days) a quality performance can be achieved with lots of hard work, and love of performing, from both the pupils as well as the teachers.

A wonderfully entertaining start to the weekend.

 "Night Must Fall" by Emelyn Williams

Tabs Productions at Nottingham Theatre Royal.

This thriller dates all the way back to 1935 when it was written by Emelyn Williams and concludes Tabs Productions run of the Colin McIntyre Classic Thriller Season 2022.

When Mrs. Bramson learns that her young maid Dora is pregnant, she summons the child's presumed father to her bungalow. The young man, Dan, is charming but mysterious.

Could he be responsible for the recent murder and beheading of a local woman, and could Mrs. Bramson be his next victim? Skilfully, Dan insinuates himself into Mrs. Bramson's affections and attempts to seduce her sceptical niece, Olivia. Despite strong suspicions of Dan's diabolical intentions, Olivia finds herself attracted to, and fascinated by, the young man.

I'm never any good at guessing who done the dastardly deed normally, but this thriller lays it all on a silver serving platter for you. What is interesting though is watching the gradual layer-peeling of the killer.

John Goodrum (Lord Chief Justice) creates the atmosphere at the start of this play with his opening speech. Even though John is not seen, his vocal acting talents send a shiver through the old bones!

Karen Henson (Mrs Bramson) has a slight air of "Nan" from the Catherine Tate Show, crossed with Downton Abbey's Dowager. Wonderfully bossy, unafraid to show who's in charge but with that naughty sense of humour. Mrs Bramson is completely taken in by Dan and performs a complete U turn of opinion thanks to Dan's Welsh charm.

Sarah Wynne Kordas (Olivia Grayne) had me flip flopping as to whether Olivia was actually involved with the murder, and even at the end of the play there could have been a possibility, or is that just me? Wonderfully cool towards Dan but was she just swept along with that charm herself?

Andrew Ryan (Hubert Laurie) gets to look very different from the last thriller, thanks to a hairpiece which, as in the past, always completely changes his character acting. Hubert is trying his hardest to woo Olivia into marriage, but what is the real reason that she turns Hubert down? Am I reading too much into this Olivia character?

Susan Earnshaw (Mrs Terence) plays another servile character, which Susan always does so very well. Mrs Terence gets some wonderfully dry comic lines to deliver.

Juliette Strobel (Dora Parkoe) morphs again from last week's troubled teenager Pippa, into the young maid Dora, who encountered Dan and ended up in the family way, and is the reason to Dan's introduction to the household. Juliette really is quite chameleonic in her roles, and as always great fun to watch on stage.

Jeremy Lloyd Thomas (Inspector Belsize) appears at the start and then at the end, in the way that all good detectives do in these kind of plays, but as ever, the Inspector always gets his man.

David Osmond (Dan) gets to show off a full gamut of emotions; comedy, cheekiness, caring through to manic anger with a possible personality disorder, bordering on bipolar, with just a touch of narcissism thrown in for good measure. There is a scene in Act Two where Dan enters an empty stage and the whole atmosphere seems to change, which gave me goosebumps. His change of

moods at first came as quite a shock and was unnerving. The thriller is driven completely by this baby-faced character. Last week David was hardly on stage, this week he is very rarely off stage, and also gives us a chance to hear another accent as opposed to the RP of last week.

Directed by John Goodrum, and like Karen, knows exactly what to do to create the required feeling for a play like this. Lulled by comedy and then chilled by just a slight staccato of music and a dimming of the lights. What these two don't know about direction of thrillers is not worth knowing.

Designed by Matt Sykes-Hooban, the set has one door short of a farce without counting the double entrance and exit points past the exit door. What I love about all of the Classic Thriller sets is the attention to detail and just moving your vision from left to right, nothing has been missed to replicate the perfect setting for the period and style of the play.

The Lighting Design by Michael Donoghue and Sound Design by David Gilbrook yet again enhances the look and feel of the Thriller genre, especially with that staccato violin to build the tension and the gradual dimming of the lighting showing the ebbing of daylight and bringing on the required feeling of creeping menace.

The Costume Design is by Geoff Gilder and really places the play in the 1920s, if I am not mistaken. Extreme class.

Tabs Productions have yet again brought with them three different thriller genres for this season, and revealed that next year they return to the four play format, so we get back to pre 2020 with four weeks of excellent thrills, chills and mirth making fun. And already, I am missing them and can't wait to discover what the Colin McIntyre Classic Thriller Season delivers.

"Night Must Fall" is at the Nottingham Theatre Royal until Saturday 13 August.

 "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.

 "Spider's Web" by Agatha Christie performed by Tabs Productions.

Nottingham Theatre Royal

The second play of the Colin McIntyre Classic Thriller Season 2022 is the classic Agatha Christie murder mystery, "Spider's Web", Christie's second longest running play; I'm sure I don't need to tell you the name of the longest running thriller from the Mistress of murder mystery!

Clarissa Hailsham-Brown, the wife of a Foreign Office diplomat, is given to daydreaming and playing a game called "Supposing". "Supposing I were to come down one morning and find a dead body in the library, what should I do?" she muses. Well, many a muse said in jest as Clarissa has her chance to find out when she discovers a body in the drawing-room of Copplestone Court, her house in Kent.

Desperate to dispose of the body before her husband comes home with an important foreign politician, Clarissa persuades her three house guests to become accessories and accomplices. It seems that the murdered man was not unknown to certain members of the house party (but which ones?), and the search begins for the murderer and the motive, while at the same time trying to persuade a police inspector that there has been no murder at all.

Lara Lemon, as Clarissa Hailsham-Brown, gets to use her feminine ways to manipulate the men around her into doing what she wants them to do, but it does not work on all the males in play. Clarissa has motive, as well as the means, and is good at covering her emotions and spinning a few good yarns. Could she really have done the dastardly deed? the play is set in the early 1950s and I love all of the melodrama with Clarissa and she has enough red herrings to open her own fish shop. You can really tell that the lovely Lara Lemon is loving playing this character.

John Lyons plays Sir Roland Delahaye, Clarissa is Delahaye's ward. In the past I've seen John play detectives on stage, and you will recognise him from "A Touch Of Frost" as George Toolan alongside Sir David Jason, but John is not just George, or Father Brown on stage. Here he plays an accomplice to Clarissa's notion of disposing the body. John is the consummate professional and his easy-going charm offstage transcends to the stage, and even when his character starts to show signs of worry over the decision to hide the body, the smoothness is ever present. Christie was a brilliant writer for injecting humour into the most ridiculous of situations, and Sir Roland Delahaye gets to deliver some wonderfully comic lines in the face of absurdity.

Andrew Ryan (Hugo Birch), and in another change of character; so often we see Andrew play the bad guy, this role sees Andrew not in control of the wrong doings and looking decidedly unnerved. Whatever role Andrew plays, he always delivers a quality performance and you feel the nervousness of the character through the performance.

Chris Brookes (Jeremy Warrender) is another name that will be well known to the Colin McIntyre Thriller Season shows. Here Chris plays a likeable young man, who has caught the eye of Clarissa, and he takes much of what Clarissa says as gospel (ish). This is shown by one of the opening scenes where he is speed testing something that Clarissa had told him. Slightly geeky, but in an upper-class way, and a little bit nervy. Both Jeremy and Hugo are in favour of assisting Clarissa's disposal of the body, whereas Roly takes a bit more convincing that this is the right thing to do.

Juliette Strobel (Pippa Hailsham-Brown) actually morphs into a young child in this play. I had to double glance at Juliette because she completely looks the right age for the character. Sometimes make up can give the impression of a younger character but this character looked not to have needed any help at all. This shows what a wonderful, and observant character actor Juliette is, because the physicality of the role also lends itself to that younger appearance. Pippa is afraid that she has murdered someone, but is she just dreaming or could it be witchcraft at play?

Susan Earnshaw (Mildred Peake). Can I say what a massive fan of Susan's I am. Every role Susan plays is, for me, brilliantly executed. This particular role is of a lady gardener, who does not get on with everyone in the house. There seems to be an extra amount of Y chromosomes coursing through those veins, giving her a more masculine, and stronger ability, or could it just be all that fresh air and gardening? Mildred is strong; strong enough to take down anyone who she takes a dislike to, and all that humping great sacks of vegetables may stand her in good stead... if called upon!

Jeremy Lloyd-Thomas (Elgin, The Butler), and while this is not a major role, it provides another possibility to consider as the murderer. Why did he and his wife really return home from the cinema? There could be a simple explanation, another red herring maybe? A classy performance from Mr Lloyd-Thomas.

John Goodrum (Oliver Costello), now here is an interesting character. He is now married to Clarissa's husband's ex-wife and so straight away there is a feeling of ill will, especially as there seems to be possible blackmail afoot, or is that just hearsay from listening at keyholes from someone else? Pippa certainly does not like him, and neither does Clarissa. Henry, Clarissa's now husband is not aware of his visit to the home, but why is he really there at all? John is a very agile actor, proven by the several stage falls he has to perform in this play. There are several people who do not like Oliver, but enough to kill him?

David Osmond (Henry Hailsham-Brown), and we don't see an awful lot of David in this play as Henry has to pop off to pick up the important foreign politician from the airport, so is off stage for a while, but as we don't actually see the murder, or the murderer, could this be explained away by the absence of stage time? Loved the upper-class accent and poise of this well-heeled Foreign Office Diplomat, which was well brought out by Mr Osmond.

George Telfer (Inspector Lord) makes an excellent policeman. He is commanding and likes to get down to the nitty gritty of solving the murder, all the while seemingly playing both bad cop, as well as good cop to try and work out why the man was murdered and by whom. While on stage, George stamped his authority as the man of the law, efficiently making sure that the suspects were directed to where he wanted them to be, and you could see him working the clues out in his head, all the while giving nothing away.

Ed Telfer (Constable Jones) gets to join his Dad (in real life) on stage as a Welsh, young "bobby". What I found really interesting about this character, and ed, was that, while the character is a secondary character, you need to watch his mannerisms because Ed has a very visual way of acting, even when he is not the main focus. His physicality is a comical masterclass for a secondary character; his stride across the stage, his facial nuances, his stance, his almost accidental outbursts of emotional recognition are all perfected. Many people will always focus on what is right in front of their eyes, but watching background characters can be so rewarding where comedy creeps in, and can so easily be missed. These tiny observations for an actor is testament to an intuitive actor as well as the Director who will also recognise this.

Directed by Karen Henson, well everything Karen touches is golden whether she directs or acts, and I love how Karen pays attention to the small things as well as the major things, and that is why Karen, in my mind, is one of the best directors for thrillers as well as comedy theatre. She knows what's what!

The set design is by Sarah Wynne-Kordass, assisted by Matt Sykes-Hooban and Duncan Hands. I acknowledged to Karen that this set was beautifully grand, and that the back projection, through the stately glass doors looked as if you could just go strolling out and wander to the golf course just past the green lawns visible through the windows; it was that realistic. Detail is another thing that Sarah pays close attention to, another reason why the Classic Thriller Season sets are always a delight to drink in.

Sound Design by David Gilbrook and Lighting Design by Michael Donoghue. I was commenting in the bar afterwards that if you have no comments on the sound or light, that everything has gone according to plan, especially when there is no need to draw attention to anything as part of the play. David and Michael always create realistic lighting and sound designs which have no need to be loud or flashy, and in that sense, they did everything that was needed to create a natural aural and visual setting. Top marks as always.

Agatha Christie writes some wordy pieces, there are several sections in this play. She also writes with great humour and Tabs casts bring out the farce in this thriller, as well as creating sufficient amount of tension in the build-up to revealing who the actual murderer was, and their motive, and when the reveal comes, it really did come as a surprise. It will keep you guessing right to the end.

Christie fans and thriller lovers, in fact fans of well executed theatre are going to love this production, and here's a fact for you; "Spider's Web" was first debuted at the Nottingham Theatre Royal in 1954. It's been back since but it's so good to have Tabs produce this classy interpretation for your thrilling delectation. 

"Spider's Web" is at the Nottingham Theatre Royal until Saturday 6 August.