REVIEW | Peter Pan The Musical, The Old Rep Theatre
Peter Pan The Musical. Photos by Louise Tugwell, Lewis Hooper and Bjarne BostadWritten by Katie
Disclaimer: Gifted tickets in return for an honest review.
General warnings: moments of darkness and flashing lights
Flying into Birmingham this Christmas is the very nostalgic, very magical, Peter Pan The Musical. Speaking to all ages, this story is a great alternative if you don’t like pantos in the festive period, and really celebrates classic British literature in the most special way.
But this show also boasts another uniqueness that is now in its eighth year of collaboration with the BOA group. This fantastic opportunity puts professional talent alongside some of Birmingham’s very best up-and-coming performers, giving students the opportunity to put into practice the things they are learning in a professional setting.
We start with by far the stand-out star of the show. Rhian Lynch is the perfect Wendy. Her beautiful falsetto and balletic movement style manage to perfectly capture the innocence and femininity of the character before a word has even left her lips, and she effortlessly carries the scenes. Although energetic and excitable, she is a calming presence on stage and has obviously really supported BOA’s budding performers to handle the professional environment with a soothing and gentle influence. I also really enjoyed Leanne Fitchett’s costume design here, which put Wendy in a dress, rather than the classic nightgown. This gave her that maturity we needed in contrast to the scraggy lost boys and beautifully reflected those core themes of growing up.
Thea Jo-Wolfe brings all the renowned qualities of Peter Pan to life excellently. She balances enthusiasm and energy with arrogance and stubbornness, which is supported by out of this world vocals. When blended with the softness of Rhian's vocal masterpiece, this pair are a force to be reckoned with!
Shropshire lad Matthew Christmas brings us his version of the iconic Captain Hook in a flamboyant and charismatic portrayal, commanding the stage in the greatest representation of his own archetype. He really grabbed the audience (especially the children), and made for one mean baddie!
This show is a fantastic opportunity for students to train on the job and really get a sense of the skills required for professional theatre. Drawing on the experience of the students, staff, alumni and partners of the BOA Group, this collaboration really throws everything it has at this production. Some notable mentions include Keisha Riley (as Tiger Lily and the shadow) and Stacey and Tracey Williams (as the Twins), who performed with professionalism and charisma that you couldn’t take your eyes off.
That being said, there were a couple of hiccups that didn’t go unnoticed, unfortunately.
A mixture of broken props, tech mishaps and forgotten lines did somewhat draw us away from the magical world that had been built, and for the 5th performance, these should have really been ironed out by this point. I think these gave away to the audience that this show is ultimately a learning curve for a lot of the team, particularly in the way that some of the less experienced performers handled them.
There were some fantastic visual elements to this show; particular favourites were the epic ticking croc, the lighting trickery that made Pan disappear, and Cici Howells choreography for ‘I Believe In Fairies’. There is not a bad vocalist in the bunch, but it does have to be said that some of the dances could have been done with a bigger lift of energy from the ensemble.
This is a well-known story with a lot to live up to. While there were definitely some shining stars, on the whole, this show fell just a little short of magical for me. The opportunity for BOAs rising stars is absolutely brilliant and I would have killed for a place on that stage with them when I was younger! Overall, I think it could have just been done with a couple more days to tighten everything up.
Peter Pan The Musical is running at The Old Rep Theatre, Birmingham until Sunday 31 December 2023.
★ ★ ★
