Show: Bedknobs and Broomsticks
Society: New Victoria Theatre (professional productions)
Venue: New Victoria Theatre Woking. The Ambassadors, The Peacocks Centre, Woking, Surrey GU21 6GQ
Credits: Original songs by the Sherman Brothers, including Portobello Road, The Age Of Not Believing, The Beautiful Briny and new music and lyrics by Neil Bartram and book by Brian Hill. Produced by Michael Harrison
Type: Sardines
Author: Aimee Collins
Performance Date: 22/09/2021
Bedknobs and Broomsticks
Aimee Collins | 26 Sep 2021 17:15pm
The Magical Musical… and magical it was!
Based on the much-loved Disney film ‘Bedknobs and Broomsticks’, this musical features the original music from The Sherman Brothers and new songs and music by Neil Bartram.
The opening scenes see us thrown into the midst of WW2 London, and we travel to the countryside with the three young Rawlins children as they are evacuated to live with the mysterious Miss Price. The ensemble seamlessly move the set around the children reflecting how young evacuees were very much ‘lifted’ and ‘passed’ from their homes to the countryside, their world picked up and spinning around them. However, as we are set down in Pepperinge Eye and the children await the arrival of the illustrious Miss Price, Aidan Oti (as Paul), Sapphire Hagon (as Carrie) and Conor O’Hara (as Charlie) bring childhood innocence, humour and joy to the stage as they envisage a brave and kind adventurer, older brother Charlie teasing his siblings that Miss Price will be a witch.
Dianne Pilkington commands the stage from her very first entrance and we immediately warm to Miss Price and her naïve efforts to engage with the children. Once again, the set is cleverly manoeuvred by the cast as wheels and side cart panels appear and form Miss Price’s infamous motorcycle.
It is at Miss Price’s house however, that the magic really begins. We are intrigued by how Miss Price is actually able to ‘fly’ across the stage on her broomstick, and then impressed as she transforms young Charlie into a rabbit using a spell. Stage craft cleverly conceals Charlie’s disappearance with the replacement of a puppet rabbit, bringing laughs throughout the auditorium.
The magic continues as Miss Price reveals her identity as a trainee witch to the children and, drawing them into her secrets, she attempts to travel by bed to London to meet Mr Browne. And we are not disappointed…fly the bed quite literally does! The audience are dazzled as Miss Price and the children travel through the clouds and over the streets of London, no hints or contraptions revealed that give away the secrets of its success!
The Portobello Road street scene is busy and bustling, the cast dressed in elaborate costumes, weaving their street carts in between each other so that there is always something that draws the eye – this scene really captures the heart of London. The cast then use puppets to create the underwater ‘Beautiful Briny Sea’ scene and to create comedy through the lion king of Nepeepo and his trusty servants.
Later, back in Pepperinge Eye, Miss Price, now along with Mr Browne and the children, tries to use magic to bring armour and clothes to life so they can be sent into war, the invasion fast approaching their home. With their shared belief in magic and their love for each other, they slowly see items, one by one, moving to the beat of the ‘Substitutiary Locomotion’ spell. Before long, the stage is alive with dresses and shirts and scarves dancing, being swept across the stage by the ensemble.
This show is full of energy, magic and love. We see a wonderful balance of humour, sincerity and vulnerability from Dianne Pilkington as she finally finds love in Mr Browne and a family in the children and Charles Brunton captures the eccentric, yet loving, character of Emelius Browne.
An evening of fun, humour and of course…magic!
- : admin
- : 22/09/2021
Sorry but this is not so much a review as just a summary of the show. I saw it in Milton Keynes and the actors and direction deserve better than this. I recommend going yourselves. One not to be missed in my opinion.