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 Sunny Afternoon at Milton Keynes Theatre

Sunny Afternoon , the Kinks-inspired jukebox musical, debuted on stage in 2014. Featuring Ray Davies' music and a book by Joe Penhall, it first found success in London before a UK tour in 2016/17. Now arriving at Milton Keynes Theatre with a new 2025/6 tour, the question remains: with some songs now over 60 years old, is Sunny Afternoon still relevant to today's audiences? While this is a jukebox musical, this show follows, via this system, the story of the formation and eventual success of The Kinks rather than creating a random story from the songs. Opening with the band The Ravens, the group is safe and sophisticated, with their prim-and-proper lead singer. However, the true band of the future, Ray Davies, Dave Davies, Mick Avory and Pete Quaife, are itching for freedom, to break away, especially writer Ray, who wants to create songs that mean something to people. Enter the suits of management, and the rocky creation of The Kinks begins. I had the pleasure of seeing Sunny A...
Read more

Review of Dear Evan Hansen at Royal & Derngate (Derngate), Northampton

First performed in 2015, Dear Evan Hansen remains the musical of the modern teen's life, showcasing all the troubles in that generation of popularity and social media. And as this long UK tour of the West End and before that Broadway smash hits the Royal & Derngate, it offers a troubling mirror on modern society. Before seeing this show, I had avoided all knowledge of the story Dear Evan Hansen tells, and with that came a joyful voyage of discovery as the captivating story evolved. Therefore, if you have also managed to avoid the story, skip the next paragraph and enjoy a new story to be found. Evan Hansen is a troubled teen who struggles to fit into society and cannot find friends. As a result, his therapist has suggested that he write letters to himself, "Dear Evan Hansen." When one of these letters is found on the body of an equally troubled teen, Evan finds himself spiralling into a world of fictitious friendship, which gets increasingly out of control. The stor...
Read more

My review of Jesus Christ Superstar (2000 Stage Version), My Living Room

Regular readers (I keep apologising, but you will keep reading) may remember that a short time ago I got into minor shenanigans on Twitter over my review of the currently touring version of Jesus Christ Superstar. In my review I explained that it was my first time seeing the show and that I was far from impressed by the whole thing. I even described it as "noise". Well my certain friends on Twitter thought I was unqualified to write a critique of the show as I had little (well no experience, but don't tell them) and condemned me for writing such a review that might bring down the establishment (or maybe slightly less severe, but I like to build my role). So, on the most suitable of days, Easter Day, I sat down and gave Jesus Christ Superstar another chance with the 2000 filmed version on super deluxe BLU-RAY. It was an epiphany indeed. Like the touring version, Jesus was played by (a much younger) Glenn Carter, very much the age perhaps that we recognise Jesus to be...
Read more