Christchurch Gilbert And Sullivan Society 2004 Review

Daily Echo (Bournemouth), December 13th 2004. Linda Kirkman
A Gilbert and Sullivan Christmas Carol
	A WELL-LOVED story by Charles Dickens, equally well loved music by Arthur Sullivan and more than a sprinkling of W S Gilbert's words should make for a refreshingly different entertainment. But perhaps its very downfall is that the words - mostly by Gaydon Wren -are, in the main, not familiar, yet they need to be heard clearly to give the story meaning and humour. Sadly, in this production, they frequently did not come over at all, partly due to a first act gauze that muffled the sound badly. Also, I suspect that the task of learning new words to familiar songs within a very short rehearsal period proved more difficult than anticipated.	However, the script allowed for the majority of the company to have speaking or singing roles, which they undertook with great confidence. Zachary Higgins transformed himself with ease into Scrooge, and his "three little ghosts" were amusingly played by Sue Higgins, Judy Broom and Christine Eastwood. And Robert Eshelby (Bob Cratchit) and Mark Ward (Old Fezziwig) also made a memorable impression. Excellent costumes added to the overall effect, but nonetheless I was left with the feeling that this show might work better in its original semi-staged reading form.

Christchurch Gilbert and Sullivan Society