Review-Narnia-Face Productions
10-12-12
By: Meaghan McGurgan
It's a difficult task when you're asked to come and review a Children's Theatre production with child performers in it. One, you don't want to come across as the Alfred Molina: Children's Theatre Critic of Hong Kong. Two, you actually want to write an article that is an accurate portrayal of your show experience. I asked the performers of Narnia how long they had been rehearsing and I was shocked to hear only 6 weeks. This show was a serious undertaking for even a seasoned adult performer. It was nearly 2 hours long, full of heavy text, had dancing, singing, major scene changes and some dramatic costumes. I give all the kids major props for being off book in 6 weeks for that itself is a serious accomplishment with a show that was this difficult.
I saw the Cast B of Narnia on Sunday. The McAulay is one of my favorite spaces in Hong Kong because of its beautiful modified thrust stage. Due to the large size of the wardrobe, the Director (Vincent Warren) had some serious challenges on his hands. I always sit on the sides of thrust stages to see if all three sides of the audience are equally played to by the performers. The dance sections were well choreographed for the thrust with good use of the space. But often times I felt I was staring at a lot of cute tails on costumes rather than faces of characters. This became a particular issue when we had large groups of kids on the stage for the finale. Greater turnout from the performers could have improved the viewpoints for the house left and house right audiences.
The kids are great performers and had great spirit about them. Even the kids with smaller parts were really committed. I had a particular fondness for Mr. and Mrs. Beaver who were hilarious. I thought the White Witch had a beautiful singing voice. The standout performance for me came from Harley Greasley who played Tumnus. She had great emotions in her character, a beautiful speaking voice and sung a wonderful solo.
The production values for Face Productions are wonderful. Costume designs by Kenix Ho were beautifully executed with the exception to the "hilariously awful" Father Christmas costume. Everyone in the audience loved it for all the wrong reasons including the kid who wore it. The high quality of all the costumes plus the live music and the beautiful set made the ticket price totally worth it even if you didn't know one of the kids in the cast. This show was as good as some local community theatre productions. I'm very excited to see what the kids of Face Academy do next.
Face Productions' Narnia has now closed. You can find out more information by clicking here.
Comments
Face Fan
Lovely well considered review, as you say not easy when its kids.
03 May 2013
Enjoy reading through all your reviews, has fast become a weekly event !