Last year I was lucky enough to review well over 100 different productions that have either started in, or visited, the region. We are very lucky to have so many great venues locally and even luckier that the management of those venues seek out, or create, shows with extremely high production values. So, following a festive season that has seen many of our local venues present top class pantomimes and Christmas shows, I have looked back through the productions of 2017 and have selected what I believe to be the top 10 shows of the year…
10: Ghost – The Hawth, Crawley
This production was quite unusual in that lovers of the film were delighted to see that the show remained as faithful as possible to the movie, but those who hadn’t seen the movie (if there were many) were delighted to see a stand-alone piece of theatre that tells one of the ultimate love stories in a beautiful, moving and stunningly emotional performance.
9: Sister Act – Brighton Centre
The Brighton Centre really pulled out all the stops to create the right atmosphere for this production, with good sight-lines from all seats, to showcase this tremendously uplifting, joyous show. As Deloris sings in the title song, and as the supremely talented Alexandra Burke showed, “no one on this earth can change that fact – I’m part of one terrific Sister Act.”
8: Oliver! – White Rock Theatre, Hastings
Oliver! was the 15th production by the White Rock Theatre Summer Youth Project. The star of the show, appearing in his first ever Summer Youth Project, was ten year old Toby Mocrei as Oliver. With his small frame, he looked so lost and vulnerable but, as he tried to fall asleep under the counter in Sowerberry’s Undertakers, he opened his mouth and his huge voice came out to offer up a breathtakingly wonderful version of Where is Love?
7: The Play That Goes Wrong – Devonshire Park, Eastbourne
Mischief Theatre Company created a frantic paced comedy, with the superb timing needed to make this kind of slapstick physical comedy work, and featured a multi-talented cast who gave their all to deliver the amazing energy and stamina necessary to keep the audience roaring with laughter from start to finish.
6: Mamma Mia – Brighton Centre
This was an evening of high-camp fun that captivated the whole audience who relished the chance to get up and dance in the “megamix” finale. And, when Donna asked “Do you want one more?” (the perfect excuse to take us back to where it all began by singing Waterloo) the answer was a resounding “Yes!”
5: Little Mermaid – Assembly Hall, Tunbridge Wells and The Royal Hippodrome Theatre, Eastbourne
The humour suited everyone with jokes pitched at every level, including a few that had the adults in the audience looking at each other in disbelief and thinking, “Did they really just say THAT in a family show! Of course, the younger members of the audience were totally oblivious to the “Carry On” style comedy and they went much more for the lavatorial humour and physical comedy – of which there was plenty.
4: Mindgame – Devonshire Park, Eastbourne
As well as the cast of three, the fourth star in this production was the incredible set. Cupboards became corridors, then cupboards again, paintings seemed to have a life of their own and wasn’t that chair a different colour in act one? The play does have some very dark moments but, through Horowitz’s superb writing, we ended up cringing and laughing in pretty much equal measures – now what does that say about the human mind?
3: Shirley Valentine – Assembly Hall, Tunbridge Wells
Jodie Prenger’s performance as Shirley Valentine was a monologue masterclass which left many in the audience looking on in admiration, examining their own lives and wondering how soon they could jump on a plane to rediscover themselves – and find a rock of their own.
2: One Man, Two Guvnors – Devonshire Park, Eastbourne
The “lunch” scene that finished act one was breathtakingly daring with the doddering old waiter Alfie, plummeting into the orchestra pit with frightening regularity and one unsuspecting audience member wishing that she had packed a change of clothes for the evening! Chris Jordan has always been famous for his meticulous attention to detail when directing a production and One Man, Two Guvnors is now a wonderful addition to his portfolio and the latest feather in his, already heavily plumed, cap.
1: RENT – Devonshire Park, Eastbourne and Assembly Hall, Tunbridge Wells
Celebrating its 20th Anniversary, Jonathan Larson’s legendary musical, RENT, is firmly fixed in time and place, but also has a timeless quality owing to it’s themes of love, loss, friendship and strength in the face of adversity and it is those powerful themes that earns the production a huge standing ovation at every performance – well deserved for such a breathtakingly fantastic show – and places it at the top of my list of the local highlights of 2017.
