The second of Trinity College London’s Fringe Shows this year, which they also invited me to review.
FRINGE RUN: 7/8 – 10/8 @ 20:45; Paradise at the Vault (29); [£7.00/£6.00]
Who, Where and When: Trinity College London/The Dance School of Scotland; Paradise at the Vault; Wednesday 7th August 2013; 8.45pm
The Show
There’s not much in the way of the show to review. Three actors performed a linked set of speeches, songs and dance, each centred around a theme. I was impressed with the variety of content, and the way in which the scenes were linked. It certainly inspired me to look more at Trinity musical theatre exams in the future.
The Cast
The first performer, Dylan Wood, chose the theme “As Blue as the Pacific” which was a series of speeches and songs telling the tale of a man spending time in prison. His dancing during “Cool” (West Side Story) captured both the flavour of Jerome Robbins’ original choreography and the feelings of his character of being trapped in the prison cell. I’m not sure I loved the interpretation of “Purpose” (Avenue Q), but overall this was a strong vocal performance. The extended monologue about a fork was superb – Dylan shows real talent as an actor.
Our second act of the night was Caitlin Muir on “Battle of the Sexes”. I really enjoyed the opening number, a duet about the titular war. Unfortunately, Google has, so far, let me down in my search for the title and origins of the song (if anyone reading this knows, please do comment below!). I really enjoyed Caitlin’s speech about her husband’s fat arse, which elicited plenty of laughter from the audience. However, I don’t think the songs chosen did justice to her voice, which was had very little belt to it, and would probably be more suited to operatic soprano roles than musical theatre ones. Both Caitlin and Amy, the final performer, were overly nasal which spoiled voices which otherwise have great potential.
The final theme of the evening was “The Single Life” performed by Amy Maltman. Her dancing was great, although she perhaps over-sold “Gimme, Gimme” (Thoroughly Modern Millie) as it isn’t quite such a cheerful song in its original context. Her dancing was excellent, and this was brilliantly reprised with her efforts on “Ring Them Bells” (A Kander and Ebb song from Liza with a Z).
Overall
The performance as a whole was a mixed effort with some excellent performances, but a number of much weaker ones too. Given the age and stage of the performers this was an admirable effort, but too inconsistent to be awarded the highest ratings. All the performers this evening have plenty of potential, and I hope that they will all keep honing their skills in the future.
Of course, you can’t judge this production by any one review (even this one) as there are different performers scheduled every night of the run who will doubtless have different strengths and weaknesses. No matter who is performing, you’ll hear more than enough musical and theatrical gems to be glad you went.
Rating ♥ ♥ ♥
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