Scrooge - The Musical
Sat, 17 Nov 2012, 05:41 pmGordon the Optom1 post in thread
Scrooge - The Musical
Sat, 17 Nov 2012, 05:41 pm‘Scrooge - The Musical’ is a seasonal presentation by the Melville Players. The music and lyrics by James Leisy were based on the 1843 Dickens story, which only took Charles two months to write. It is being presented at the Melville Theatre, on the corner of Stock Road and Canning Highway, Palmyra. The show is 100 minutes long, and can be seen on Thursday, Friday and Saturdays at 8.00 pm until 1st December. There is one matinee on Sunday 25th November at 2.00 pm, which is almost fully booked.
It is late in the 19th century in a tiny, poorly furnished office belonging to skinflint Scrooge (Craig Menner). Even though it is Christmas Eve Scrooge’s head clerk, Bob Cratchit (Kit Leake) and the three junior clerks (Chad Abbot, Joel Jackson, Rex Gray) are having to work late. Into the office come Scrooge’s nephew, Fred (Darren Goodison), his wife Emily (Kaori Maeda-Judge) and two friends Topper and Polly (Patrick and Simone McMahon), they have come to wish everyone the compliments of the season. Scrooge mutters ‘humbug’ and gets rid of them as quickly as possible. Seconds later, two ladies (Norma Davis, Grace Hitchin) come begging for money to give to the poor. They too soon find themselves back on the street, where they tell their friends (Barbara Lovell, Marty Carrick, Anya Taulier) of Scrooge’s meanness.
A few hours later in Scrooge’s wood-panelled bedroom, the miser is in his four-poster bed, snoring and having a bad dream. As midnight chimes, he hears the rattling of chains and the ghost of his deceased partner, Marley (Andy Markland) appears. He shows Scrooge that if he does not change his ways, then he too will wander the nights. The next apparition, Spirit of Christmas Past (Kaori) reminds Scrooge what a happy childhood he had as a boy (Nicholas Yeomans) with his friend Fan (Zoe Gampfer) and how privileged he was. Then Scrooge sees himself as a young man (Callum Fletcher) again happy and with his friend Isobel (Kelsie Anderson).
As the clock strikes two, Scrooge awakes to find a bright, spritely young woman, Spirit of Christmas Present (Kirsten Wilding); she shows the old Meany what is happening at Bob Cratchit’s home. How poor Mrs Cratchit (Di Ryman) and her daughters, Belinda (Tahlia Menner) and Martha (Darcy Jensen), are struggling to prepare a Christmas dinner from the meagre food in the pantry. In the kitchen corner sits Tiny Tim (Blake Jenkins) their crippled son.
On the stroke of three, dressed in sackcloth, the frightening figure of the Spirit of Christmas Future (Howard Steinberg) appears. The future looks grim.
Will Scrooge get the message and change his ways?
Community theatre and school musicals can regularly be disasters, as skilled actors embarrassingly show their difficulty with singing on stage. Thankfully, this was NOT one of these occasions. WA musical director, Justin Freind, has once again composed and recorded some beautifully catchy tunes, then set the rhythm and phrasing of the melodies at a pace that everyone can keep to, along with a vocal range to suit even the least talented. The result is success for every one of the ten numbers, with no squirming in the seats for the audience as duff notes hit the air. There were smiles on the faces of all the singers as they performed, and even bigger smiles, though handkies were clutched, for Tiny Tim’s wonderful offering.
Right from the opening number, ‘Deck the Halls’, Neroli Burton filled the auditorium, the aisles and every corner of the stage with beautifully dressed singers and joyous voices. The costumes (Michelle Sharp) were varied and colourful, and combined with Katherine Freind’s choreography and movement the numbers shone.
George Boyd has come up with another great set, built and decorated by the cast. The lighting (Jeff Hansen) captured the mood perfectly, with clever use of colour temperature and well selected lighting levels.
The acting was assured, the dialogue crisp and clear. From the strong cast, I would like to mention Craig as Scrooge and Andy as the ghost of Marley. New to our shores is Kristen Wilding who has already shown us what an asset she will be to WA theatre.
A wonderfully uplifting night out for all of the family, and just the right length for children to sit through. Christmas magic has come to Melville.