![](https://www.sardinesmagazine.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/2537_1472056447.jpg)
Show: Big the Musical
Society: Edinburgh Festival Fringe
Venue: C
Credits: Latymer Theatre Company
Type: Sardines
Author: Chris Abbott
Performance Date: 24/08/2016
Big the Musical
Chris Abbott | 24 Aug 2016 16:42pm
Downstairs at the main C venue in Chambers Street is a surprise: a miniature proscenium arch theatre rather than a lecture hall. It was a most fitting venue for the Latymer Theatre Company’s production of Big the Musical, a show which has yet to make the journey from Broadway to the West End.
It’s a tuneful if old-fashioned show, presented here inventively and with plenty of verve and enthusiasm. The large cast play not only a range of characters but often the scenery too, wearing three-dimensional fairground rides (seen all too briefly) or New York skyscraper hats, a fun and effective way of accommodating the inability to have scenery in a Fringe production that has to be cleared away in minutes.
Justin Joseph’s pacy production, using a large cast on a small stage, benefitted not just from Faye Bradley’s clever and inventive designs but from the lively choreography of Carryl Thomas and unseen Musical Director Tony Henwood.
Big tells the story of a boy who wishes he could grow up and then finds, when his wish is granted, that maybe he is not ready for adulthood just yet. This offers casting challenges for a young cast who are all of much the same age, and there were also occasions when dialogue was unclear, especially when the cast were facing away from the audience.
Among the cast, Saskia Almond made a lively younger version of Josh, playing well alongside Alyssa Virji’s Billy, both of them believable boys in the absence of any younger male cast members. Most of the cast had parts of varying size and all coped well, with accents in particular consistent and convincing. Among the cast, Sinead Jenkins was a sympathetic Mrs Baskin and Immy London gave a good performance as Susan Lawrence, her spoken dialogue in particular well-delivered.
Sonny Pilgrem was a suitably petulant Paul in what was a strong portrayal, and among the toyshop employees, Louis Walwyn as the boss, Macmillan, commanded the stage whenever he entered, quite properly in view of his role. This is a young actor who has considerable stage presence, as is also the case for Calum McArthur in the lead role of the older Josh. Always an authoritative performance, this was totally in tune with the piece. He was always believable as the gauche boy inside the body of a grown man, and he has a beautiful singing voice, accent maintained, and will surely have a future in musicals if that is his aim.
This is an excellent opportunity to see a show that is new to the UK, and is recommended to all collectors of musicals.
- : admin
- : 24/08/2016