Godspell - The official NODA review
Taking its name from the old English spelling of ‘gospel’ Godspell translates to mean ‘good news’. An apt title for an upbeat vivacious and vibrant musical, based on the Gospel of St. Matthew.
Front of House: There was a warm welcome from Chairman Alex who showed me to my seat. It would have been nice to talk to somebody from the production team or even the company during the interval.
Programme: A nice glossy programme with good photos and pen portraits of the cast and production team. It was good to see adverts for other forthcoming productions and a NODA acknowledgement.
Set/Props: Minimal, which was all that was required for this production. Clever use of the metal partitions. The set was ‘dressed’ with items you could find discarded by the roadside, shopping trolley, number plate etc. which fitted this type of show.
Lighting/Sound: Skilful, often moody lighting. Sound, for the most part was adequate, not all had personal mics but the audience were close enough to be able to hear everything. Although it doesn’t help when the aerial falls off the hand-held mic!
Costumes: This show can move with the times and adopt any fashion style so jeans and ‘t’shirts do not look out of place but there was also plenty of colour.
Musical Direction: Thank you Isabel, the band was excellent and unobtrusive when it needed to be. I have seen other productions of Godspell when the band was so loud that it dominated. The solo and ensemble singing was good and the group of singers on the side enhanced the ensemble singing.
The Production: This was an ideal venue for this show, with enough space to present the effects the director wanted. The direction was imaginative and allowed each individual character to shine when their moment came. Overall it was a good example of team work with an obvious rapport between the cast. Choreography and general movement around the stage was at times complex but carried off with panache. I do not intend to single out any member of the cast as there was not one weak link in the chain with every talented member confident in voice and movement.
Doreen Grierson
NODA Regional Rep (District 7)
Front of House: There was a warm welcome from Chairman Alex who showed me to my seat. It would have been nice to talk to somebody from the production team or even the company during the interval.
Programme: A nice glossy programme with good photos and pen portraits of the cast and production team. It was good to see adverts for other forthcoming productions and a NODA acknowledgement.
Set/Props: Minimal, which was all that was required for this production. Clever use of the metal partitions. The set was ‘dressed’ with items you could find discarded by the roadside, shopping trolley, number plate etc. which fitted this type of show.
Lighting/Sound: Skilful, often moody lighting. Sound, for the most part was adequate, not all had personal mics but the audience were close enough to be able to hear everything. Although it doesn’t help when the aerial falls off the hand-held mic!
Costumes: This show can move with the times and adopt any fashion style so jeans and ‘t’shirts do not look out of place but there was also plenty of colour.
Musical Direction: Thank you Isabel, the band was excellent and unobtrusive when it needed to be. I have seen other productions of Godspell when the band was so loud that it dominated. The solo and ensemble singing was good and the group of singers on the side enhanced the ensemble singing.
The Production: This was an ideal venue for this show, with enough space to present the effects the director wanted. The direction was imaginative and allowed each individual character to shine when their moment came. Overall it was a good example of team work with an obvious rapport between the cast. Choreography and general movement around the stage was at times complex but carried off with panache. I do not intend to single out any member of the cast as there was not one weak link in the chain with every talented member confident in voice and movement.
Doreen Grierson
NODA Regional Rep (District 7)
CASTING A SPELL - Godspell by the Stag Theatre Company
Show me a friendly vicar with a guitar, and I’ll run a mile. So perhaps I’m the best person to review Godspell, with its mixture of happy-clappy religious uplift and hippyish community spirit. But I think the real challenge for any show, religious or not, is to be able to reach out beyond the ranks of the converted. Based on the Gospel of St Matthew, Godspell is now an evergreen classic nearly 40 years after it was first performed. Director Jamie Thomas wisely decided not to try to update the original production style, a garish 1960s mixture of loopy clown costumes and multicoloured tights. The show began a little uncertainly with the Tower of Babble opening number, but the audience was quickly won over as soon as Matt Friett (Jesus) appeared. Despite a blue superman shirt and a pair of yellow cutoffs (did people really dress like that in the sixties?) Matt displayed a total command of this difficult part. Equipped with a faultless sense of timing and a fine tenor voice, he radiated an inner calm and authority which underpinned the relationship between the disciples and Jesus, who is part of the group but also its leader.
Putting together a musical is like composing a three-dimensional jigsaw, and the important thing about Godspell is that music, movement, acting and dance have to mesh together continuously. It’s a non-stop musical with a range of musical styles in which any weakness or hesitation is instantly exposed. Even by the Stag Theatre Company’s high production standards, this was a beautifully integrated show in which every note, every line and every step by every character meshed together. By the time they approached the end of the first act and launched into All For The Best the talented cast were fully in control. They used every inch of the Ship Theatre’s thrust stage to great effect, especially in the second act climax of the crucifixion. This was an assured directorial debut by Jamie Thomas, who is better known as a regular performer with Stag Theatre Company and Sevenoaks Entertainers. With the help of choreographer Jessica McEwen and musical director Isabel Platt, he coaxed some excellent performances from a young but very accomplished cast in which Mary Whiting, Nichola Ross and Jamie Wallis were outstanding.
Was I converted? Probably not, but I was certainly impressed. In October 2010 this highly talented company will return to its original home in the larger venue of the Stag theatre to perform something completely different – the off-Broadway cult musical Little Shop of Horrors. Unless the vicar with the guitar catches up with me first, I shall certainly be there.
John Morrison
The Vine Magazine, November 2009
Putting together a musical is like composing a three-dimensional jigsaw, and the important thing about Godspell is that music, movement, acting and dance have to mesh together continuously. It’s a non-stop musical with a range of musical styles in which any weakness or hesitation is instantly exposed. Even by the Stag Theatre Company’s high production standards, this was a beautifully integrated show in which every note, every line and every step by every character meshed together. By the time they approached the end of the first act and launched into All For The Best the talented cast were fully in control. They used every inch of the Ship Theatre’s thrust stage to great effect, especially in the second act climax of the crucifixion. This was an assured directorial debut by Jamie Thomas, who is better known as a regular performer with Stag Theatre Company and Sevenoaks Entertainers. With the help of choreographer Jessica McEwen and musical director Isabel Platt, he coaxed some excellent performances from a young but very accomplished cast in which Mary Whiting, Nichola Ross and Jamie Wallis were outstanding.
Was I converted? Probably not, but I was certainly impressed. In October 2010 this highly talented company will return to its original home in the larger venue of the Stag theatre to perform something completely different – the off-Broadway cult musical Little Shop of Horrors. Unless the vicar with the guitar catches up with me first, I shall certainly be there.
John Morrison
The Vine Magazine, November 2009