Skip to main content

Review of Café Crescendo - The Late Show by R&D Youth Theatre at Royal & Derngate (Underground), Northampton

The Early Show had been quite special, however the Late Show was to offer even more and this time with truly added audience participation and experience. The dust cloths of the haunted cafe had been discarded and delicate white tablecloths, candles and a flower in a vase were in its place. We were at a quality cafe and ready for a bit of cabaret style entertainment.

Jessica (a superb Lauren Moody) is busy cleaning up the cafe when her boyfriend (we shall see about that) Daniel (Ryan McLean) turns up ready to take her to a party. Well not just a party, but also Edinburgh, because special things await him there so Lauren must come too.

In between my making Daniel sound a bit selfish, we also have a tale to be told to Lauren through our wonderful time travelling cafe. Switching through the decades we are treated to 20s, 40s, 60s and 80s ensembles. Each of these has a group leader; Anne (Francesca Chaisson), Rosie (Mia Rista), Rosa (Michaela Blackburn) and Sarah (Amara Browning); and each performs a full solo laying out the path of decision for Jessica (and indeed us).

The solos are all excellent and performed with excellent choreographed numbers by the groups, but my favourite two would have to be the flapper styled Maybe This Time performed by Francesca, and Just A Housewife by Mrs Lovett herself Amara Browning. The latter is performed by her with such emotion that the die is cast in the audience just in time for the announcement of our part in proceedings. The audience is to select if Jessica goes or stays, and our cold hearted lot make the correct decision to send Daniel packing to bonny old Scotland on his tod.

The cast is uniformly excellent, with Lauren Moody and Ryan McLean just amazing in their lead roles. Once again applause to all involved in this show, this is not only a superb piece of theatre presented in a unique style, but also with the wonderful interactive element for the audience. It really was a special and fun show. Congratulations to absolutely everyone involved.


Performance reviewed: Sunday 25th May, 2015 (second show) at the Royal & Derngate (Underground), Northampton.

Café Crescendo was performed by the R&D Youth Theatre at the Royal & Derngate between Friday 22nd May and Sunday 24th May, 2015.

For further details about the Royal & Derngate visit their website at http://www.royalandderngate.co.uk/
Labels:

Popular posts from this blog

Review of Beauty and the Beast at Castle Theatre, Wellingborough

The Castle Theatre Wellingborough this year sees the home of Beauty and the Beast as its seasonal pantomime, and what a fabulously entertaining show it is. Hiding away from the big star names, Parkwood Theatres & Castle Theatre has assembled a talented bunch of performers to bring this tale “as old as time” to the stage. Produced and directed by Martin Cleverley once again, back from previous years' pantos, the show relies very much on characters rather than showy visuals. Taking full advantage of a French setting, the puns flow freely, including to the characters, with names such as Danon and Djon thrown into the mustard pot (very much intended) of puns. Aura Mitchell and Kaysee Craine lead our cast of characters as the title characters of Beauty and the Beast (also known as Prince Pierre). While they do play second fiddle, as is the norm for a panto, to the additional comic characters, they form a charming partnership. Returning to the role of panto dame from last year'...
Read more

Review of Mog's Christmas at Royal & Derngate (Royal), Northampton

Back in 2022, the theatre group The Wardrobe Ensemble created a sweet and adventurous staging of Judith Kerr's classic children's character, Mog - The Forgetful Cat . For this Christmas season at Royal & Derngate, Mog returns with, suitably enough, Mog's Christmas . The show, just a crisp, action-packed hour, retells two past adventures alongside a Christmas vignette. Kerr's Mog first appeared in 1970, and it launched a remarkable run of books over 50 years featuring the puzzled feline, culminating in the final book released in 2020, following Kerr's death at 95 in 2019. Kerr is most famous for one of her other tales, The Tiger Who Came to Tea . However, in Mog's Christmas , the show presents three entertaining little stories featuring her other, slightly lesser-known feline character. Over the course of the hour, we see Mog successfully foil a burglar, survive a trip to the V.E.T., and then, in the brand-new stage story, a Christmas adventure where Mog gets...
Read more

Review of The All New Adventures of Peter Pan at Royal & Derngate (Derngate), Northampton

For theatres across the land, it's that time of year again. The time when the theatres fill with screaming children and a ridiculous amount of sugar intake and trips to the toilet. Yes, it is panto time, and before you say it, oh yes it is. This year, for the Royal & Derngate, it is time for a trip to Neverland (or Forever Land, that is, but more on that later) and a magical adventure with Peter Pan and the dastardly Captain Hook. Once again, following hugely successful previous runs, Evolution Productions brings this tale to the stage in 2025. And it has to be said, once again, they strike panto gold with The All New Adventures of Peter Pan , with a constantly lively, brilliantly colourful and awkwardly funny production that, as always with Evolution, is totally family friendly. Over the years here, Evolution and writer Paul Hendy have created the essence of pantomime (which just so happens to link to the tale within this story). Keeping all the traditions intact, a ghostly be...
Read more