Review: Once Upon a Time, A Musical Comedy, Milton Musical Society
ANOTHER loud and buzzing evening from Milton Musical Society with their latest bespoke show, Once Upon A Time, A Musical Comedy, a modern fairy tale written and directed by Emma Hardy and Kirsti Warne.
The boy-meets-girl-meets-baddies plot is strung together with various songs taken from a variety of West End shows, both classic and modern; a mixture of music, comedy and storytelling.
Beverley Beck was The Storyteller, keeping the audience up to date with the story or bringing the cast back to reality with her pithy comments, while Suzanne Teather set the scene as Lady Godmother with a superb Oh What a Beautiful Morning from Oklahoma.
Emma Hardy with a lovely singing voice was charming as 'the heroine' Bella, who despite warnings from her friends, Jaz (Latayan Richardson), Ruby (Ashleigh Barker) and Ali (Emily Underwood), is falling for the vain, self-centered Gus, splendidly played by Charles Henry. She does not realise that she is riding roughshod over the feelings of long-suffering Charlie, sympathetically played by Oscar Trehane, who loves her.
No fairytale is complete without the baddies and Charlie Squibb as Mel menacingly led her gang of ugly sisters, Zelda (Olwen Adams) and Annie (Sue Brown), Jeff (Chris Meineck) wearing a swishing cloak, and Eva (Jess Barras) who decides to be a goodie after all.
I especially liked Charlie and Gus with the two princes William and Harry (Steve Tuddenham and Terry Barnett) and their rendering of Guys and Dolls' Luck Be A Lady Tonight as they venture into Lady Goodmother's casino. They were followed by the excellent older princesses, Cindy, Blanche and Audra (played by Kirsti Warne, Tracy Knapp and Pat Barnett) with their energetic I'm So Over Men from Soho Cinders.
The whole company, principals and ensemble sang and danced, with great skill and gusto, the costumes bright and sparkly - especially the beautiful green dress worn by Mrs Tubbs (Catherine Irlam), which along with the live band under musical director Jo Kent and deft lighting made for an entertaining evening for the sell-out audience – another MMS success.
Alison Smith
