Director: Miranda Larson

Reviewer: Bill Avenell

The Public Reviews Rating:

 

The trouble was that it was just too loud. Three generations, Grandfather, Mother and Granddaughter (a true ‘Angelina’ fan) turned up at Worthing hoping for a magical introduction to the Theatre but from the moment the overture blasted out of the speakers we knew we were struggling. Unfortunately, it was not only that the sound was overly loud but also that the balance was all wrong so it was very difficult to hear a lot of the dialogue. This was a real shame because the actors themselves made a very good attempt at conveying the Angelina of books and TV on to the Stage. The plot was in keeping with Angelina style: a dance competition to be filmed by TV, the falling out of classmates over the dances, reunification achieved through Angelina’s intervention and a triumphant show in conclusion (complete of course with the local dance school).

Angelina herself was well played by Georgia Carling with suitable ballet skills and an infectious stage presence. Gracie (Kay Stredder), Viki (Samantha Hull), A-J (Daniel Jacob) and Marco (Nicholas Pack) danced and sang Matthew Cole’s choreography and Barrie Bignold’s music enthusiastically despite the problem with the words while Hannah Louise-Wilson as Alice/Miss Mimi/Presenter had a fit of the giggles but helped to keep the action and the story line moving. But their performances were overshadowed by the din and also by a rather flat lighting design which created few variations throughout the production. Isla Shaw’s set was simple but ingenious and provided the different venues in Mouseland with a minimum of fuss. There was some debate in our party as to whether her ‘mouslings’ costumes should be more mouse-like, particularly their faces, but the overall spectacle was bright and cheery if lacking in subtlety.

By the end of the show Miranda Larson’s direction had induced an enthusiastic group of little admirers to bounce up and down in the front of the auditorium so the noise had obviously not dampened everyone’s enjoyment and the Pavilion was a good venue for such a show. But alas the whole experience was spoiled for our party by the aggressive sound production.

 

Angelina Ballerina -The Mousical runs until Saturday 27th October.

 

Tags: Angelina Ballerina The Mousical, Barrie Bignold, Daniel Jacob, Georgia Carling, Hannah Louise-Wilson, Isla Shaw, Katy Stredder, Matthew Cole, Miranda Larson, Nicholas Pack, Pavilion Theatre, Samantha Hull, Worthing