Nativity! The Musical, Birmingham Rep - review and pictures
‘Each and every one of these kids is brilliant, amazing, a pocketful of stardust.’
These were the words of headmistress Mrs Bevan in describing the St Bernadette’s pupils but the character could actually have been talking about each and every young member of this wonderful cast.
Drawn from the wealth of young talent across Birmingham and the Black Country, the children in this fantastic, festive feast truly do Sparkle and Shine.
Nativity! The Musical is a Birmingham Repertory Theatre production based on the ever popular Christmas film which starred Martin Freeman.
In short, pupils at the ailing St Bernadette’s primary are preparing to present their Nativity play reluctantly led by disenchanted teacher Mr Maddens and his unorthodox new classroom assistant Mr Poppy.
Matters start to spiral out of control when everyone is led to believe that Mr Maddens’ ex Jennifer, who left to find fame in Hollywood, is coming to the Midlands to watch the play and turn it into a film.
The children are, without doubt, the stars of this show. There are some adorable characters such as the cheeky but slightly troubled Ollie, the uber-confident young star, and the dare-devil Angel Gabriel.
There are three teams of children. One team plays the St Bernadette’s class and another those at the rival school Oakmoor – who are led by Mr Madden’s embittered former friend Mr Shakespeare.
I saw the blue and red teams which included Alexander Hogg from Walsall, Gerald Ngwenya from Wolverhampton, Joshua Millard-Lloyd from Sandwell and Zak Lackenby from Dudley among the very funny young cast. There certainly seemed to be quite a bit of improvisation from the children – the beards seemed to cause some consternation.
They do say never work with children and dogs and this show has both – with Cracker getting ‘ahhhs’ every time the four-legged friend made an appearance.
See a trailer for the show here:
But giving the children, and the dog, a good run for their money is Simon Lipkin as the Peter Pan character Mr Poppy who has all the enthusiasm, idealism and sense of adventure that childhood offers but too often adulthood takes away.
Narrator, instigator and director – Mr Poppy is at the centre of it all and is the catalyst that accidentally sets off the sequence of events that has the whole town thinking Hollywood Are Coming.
Lipkin reflects the vulnerability and insecurities of Mr Poppy behind his child-like exuberance while his character also gets the most laughs – and the biggest round of applause.
Daniel Boys is very likeable as the love-lorne Mr Maddens while Sarah Earnshaw, as Jennifer, has a lovely voice and shines in such numbers as Suddenly and Wrapped in a Rainbow.
There are plenty of catchy tunes in the show including such popular numbers from the film as Nazareth, Sparkle and Shine and She’s the Brightest Star.
A highlight was the children singing Dear Father Christmas which certainly brought a lump to the throat.
Anyone who ever believed in Santa, ever loved Christmas or was ever a child will love this production.
It is never too early to feel Christmassy and I defy anyone to leave the theatre without a warm glow inside and a smile on their faces after enjoying this feel-good show.
Go and see it – it’s a cracker!
Runs at The Rep until November 12.
