Saturday 9th August - Full Cast

I have to say I went into this knowing not very much about it beyond the fact it was set around WW2 and there was a love story in amongst it. I've given up finding out about shows before I go it's far more interesting this way.

Unfortunately for us the lighting desk had packed up so we had a delayed start to the show and a general wash throughout with no projections etc. The cast were so excellent that it didn't really matter although at some points you literally couldn't see their faces which, given that we were in the front row of the raked section about 10 feet from the front of the stage, was actually reasonably impressive :lol:

As I said the cast are superb (I'll do stand out mentions in a minute) and the reviewer who described it as "Saving Private Ryan meets Les Mis" has probably hit the nail on the head, although there were some real Miss Saigon moments in there as well. Hardly shocking given the war setting there's a limit to what you can do with it. The Les Mis fans among you will spot some serious parallels in some of the themes.

Given that it was only an hour and ten minutes long I was surprised to find that the plot was difficult to follow in some places and caused much debate with the group I was with. I'm not posting spoilers because I know a lot of NOBYers are seeing this but there is one section that makes no sense whatsoever and didn't add any value to the way that the plot turned out. I think I know what they were trying to do by including it but it didn't work as effectively as it would have had they altered the ending accordingly. I know that this is a shortened version of the book and score and on the whole it was brilliant but they need to fix the flow of the plot before extending it. Otherwise their audience will continue to come out scratching their heads a little. My cousins didn't like it for that reason.

The music was great and the 17-piece orchestra was outstanding. My only criticism would be that it does get very samey and repetitive in places. My brain also needs rewired because everytime they sang "only the brave die young" my brain wanted to auto-correct to "good" :lol:

Right the cast. Absolutely superb. The acting was incredible and you really felt for these characters. There were a few points were I felt tears stinging the back of my eyes and there wasn't necessarily anything particularly sad happening but the cast drew you in with their anguish.

My cast highlights in order of the programme:

Gerard Bentall, John Coombs - as the Captain who is determined to serve his country Gerard is superb and has a truly fantastic singing voice. His relationship with his wife, Sarah, (played by CJ) was touching and believable.

CJ, Sarah Coombs - One thing that you could never accuse CJ of is not being able to act, she was scene stealing at times and appeared to be completely caught up in the emotion of the piece. The duet that she and Niamh Perry (Belle Fournier) did was unbelievable and a real showstopper given the power they both have in their voices. Some of her scenes were truly heartbreaking to watch and you really felt the journey her character went on and of course there's that fantastic voice whenever she sings!

Keith Jack, Charlie Lockhart - As soon as I'd got over how like my brother he looked I found him completely captivating as the soldier who didn't want to be at war. He has a brilliant singing voice and his acting was spot on. There are some incredibly active pieces of choreography where I felt so sorry for him with sweat pouring down his head and trying to hold the notes but all credit to him he was brilliant. I think he was let down in part by the weak sub-plot his character was assigned but I couldn't fault him.

Niamh Perry, Belle Fournier - Her French accent was Welsh initially which added a little to the confusion with the plotline but once that was ironed out she was great. Her voice is beautiful and as I said her duet with CJ is showstopping but I'm not sure if this role is right for her she seemed awkward on stage at times and again I think a victim of the weak sub-plot

Tom Soloman, Harry - Scene stealing and with a singing voice that is just fantastic, I'm so going to look up his solo stuff now.

Gareth Richards, Will - Special mention for fantastic comic timing and holding some bits together.

Apologies for the epic review it's more than a bit longer than I intended! :lol: