It’s Snowtime

It’s Snow Time is a flurry of Christmas and Christmas-related songs, all geared up to get you well and truly into the Christmas spirit. There is something for everyone, with old and new numbers all accompanied by the live in-house band.

The show kicks off with a classic ‘Do they know it’s Christmas time?’ that seees the whole company on stage, setting the tone for what is to come. Karl Winson is compère, taking the audience through the show while showing off some of his own singing and dancing skills along the way. He is the glue holding the show together and giving an explanation for some of the song choices.

As the show progresses, we come across an unusual Christmas song, with an explanation from Karl that you will have to hear for yourself. ‘Dance with me tonight’, sung brilliantly by Thomas Evans with backing dancers, is vocally strong and is the first upbeat song, giving good energy and pace to the opening of the show. We then come to ‘Where are you, Christmas’; Lily Cottrell and Megan Chadwick have great stage presence and excellent voices, and I’m sure that they, along with the other children in this show, will go on to do great things.

Clairelouise Moore is brilliant in ‘Feliz Navidad’, singing in Spanish as well as integrating with the audience. She is a standout performer, taking on many different musical numbers and really putting her all into the night’s proceedings. I must also mention the extremely energetic maraca player, upstage left, giving it all his energy throughout the show – he is a joy to watch. There is a great comedic performance from Libby Russell singing ‘I want a hippopotamus for Christmas’ and proving very popular amongst the audience.

As with any big-scale production, it is nearly impossible to mention everyone, but another highlight is a solo by Rosie Luxford. ‘I’ve got my love to keep me warm’ is an excellent song choice for Rosie, allowing her to show off her talent and versatility as a performer. The ‘Nobody loves a fairy when she’s forty’ is fantastically performed by all who are in it, and the hard work paid off as the audience found it hilarious.

There is an array of costumes, from glittery dresses to winter coats and even a fairy costume or two. ‘The Clares’ have done an excellent job bringing all the different materials to the stage to brighten up the numbers. The choreography adds another performance skill to the mix; Kellie Blake’s ‘kelliography’ is very technical at times and tops the night off perfectly.

The live band is brilliant and without their hard work there literally wouldn’t be a show. Alastair Hume sprinkled his musical magic wand and put all the arrangements together. Other credits go to Corrine Rigler, Rob Marshall, Wayne Chappell and Sy Gorelick making up the rest of the band.

There were of course a few things that need to be ironed out, as with any first-night performance. Going from song to song seemed a little sticky at times and the overall energy of some of the performers was lacking. However, I’m sure that this will improve for the final performances. So get into the Christmas spirit and go and see this strong company performing at the Barrington Theatre on Saturday at 2 pm, 5 pm and 8 pm. There’s ‘snow’ way you can miss it.

• Type: user
• Performance Date: 04/12/2015
• Star rating: 12345