Tall Stories has filled an amusingly unscary hour for the over-threes with music, comic verse and rubbish spells with its interpretation of Julia Donaldson’s picture book. It’s a simply staged, singalong piece for the very young, for whom a lighter, homelier kind of witch is the order of the season.
The owner of the broom in question - endearingly played by Morag Cross - is a bit of a bumbler. She cuts an unthreatening figure in a floppy black hat, a large yellow bow and a star-topped wand, and is far too nice to deny potential passengers a flight on her beleaguered besom.
David Garrud and Scott Armstrong employ an impressive range of accents, music styles and boundless energy while manipulating puppets Dog, Bird and Frog, harmonising sweetly with Lesley Cook’s all-singing, all dancing and all knowing Cat.
In among rumbustious tumbles from the broom and witty lyrics by Jon Fiber, Andy Shaw and Robin Price, pounces a mad Welsh dragon and a strangely familiar monster. It’s all rather cosy, as befits this popular bedtime story, but to guard against any kind of outbreak of preschool panic, the house lights remain firmly up throughout.
Production information can change over the run of the show.
Content is copyright © 2012 The Stage Media Company Limited unless otherwise stated.
All RSS feeds are published for personal, non-commercial use. (What’s RSS?)
