I was fortunate enough to see this incredible show at Birmingham’s Alexandra Theatre. At the beginning of the show, it was not alive with energy, would it get Better I thought? Glenn Adamson also did not look fresh right at the beginning and I wondered whether the cast had been doing an energetic warm up routine or rehearsal prior to the show’s start as I saw the backstage crew moving props back into place prior to the start?
However after around 10 minutes into the show, it was like a light switch had been switched. The cast burst with vigour and energy into the production. There was a slight issue whereby the ensemble came on but their voices could not be heard.
There was stand out performances by most of the cast in this production.
Glenn Adamson gave an outstanding performance as Strat and his performance was brilliant. Martha Kirby playing Raven was also a star and I could listen to her as a solo artist in her own right. Sharon Sexton alongside Rob Fowler also gave a wow of a performance in each of their roles. Joelle Moses and James Chisholm also gave magnificent performances and their voices were delightful. Jamie Jukes gave an absolutely fantastic performance, he could easily play a part in Wicked. Stacey Monahan who was part of swing also gave an exceptional performance.
I did have a problem with the seat I initially sat at but the theatre successfully resolved this.
The whole production was fantastic, however a big problem was the staging, as either far left or far right massive amounts of the production would be missed, potentially this was due to the stage not being big enough but unless sat dead on centre did cause problems.
The scenery and extras throughout the show was amazing, the songs were full of liveliness and it felt like a rock concert at times. This is a show you must go to see and one I’d happily go to again. The whole show was superb and 1st rate performances given by the whole cast.
I thoroughly would rate this show as A* Class!
Go See!