Photo Courtesy of Curve Theatre Website

Tonight I am writing a slightly different kind of review as it isn’t about just one show. It is about three different showcases that have been created by the amazing team of practitioners at Curve Theatre, Leicester as part of their Curve Young Community Company’s programme of events. CYCC is investing in our children with their time and expertise and they are nurturing some fine talent – creating potential stars of the future.

Now – I may be slightly biased with this set of reviews mainly because three of my children are involved with them but some parental pride is allowed. It isn’t just a review of the shows though. It is also a review of the amazing services offered by our local theatre for the youngsters in the community.

CYCC Kids – Years 1-2: Little Monsters
This morning our youngest minibeast (I mean child!) was involved with a “sharing”. Taking place in one of the rehearsal rooms that also has audience seating in we were presented with a wonderfully devised piece about Little Monsters and how they helped a human stop being scared of the monsters under her bed. Bearing in mind these youngsters are only 6 or 7 years old they were adorable. They all knew their lines, their staging and their songs and they captured our hearts. The timing of “Mum” coming in to check on her daughter as the Little Monsters danced with her resulting in them all collapsing onto the floor was just right and raised many smiles – almost like the Monster Mash version of Musical Bumps – and their version of “Everywhere we go” (anyone with a Scouting or Guiding background will definitely know this song) was led by the sweetest Little Monster in the room! Ok – confession time – it was led by my 7 year old so I am DEFINITELY biased at this as he hadn’t actually told me he was going to be doing it and I may have had wet eyes at this point.

Well done to Zoe and Susanna for managing to work so well with these Little Monsters! Not the easiest age to work with (trust me I know!). My lad has already registered his interest in joining the next group up next term!

CYCC Musical Theatre Years 7-9: Footloose
The younger of the two MT groups took on half of the double header last night with Footloose alongside the CYCC Dance section. Now two things to confess here – firstly Footloose is not one of my favourite musicals despite it being ‘my era’. I was always a Flashdance and Fame kinda-gal. Secondly – I wasn’t actually able to watch the show ‘proper’ as I had already got pre-booked tickets for Six however I was allowed to sneak in to the studio to watch the dress run. The fact I had been sitting in the amazing foyer area of Curve for four hours every night but one this week may have won me a sympathy vote!

I watched the final part of the tech and was a little worried. I wasn’t convinced they were going to pull it together for the dress and, in turn, the show but I was so wrong. Hannah, Demi and Carden seemed to work some sort of magic. Where things had sounded slightly off in the tech the youngsters really rallied and it sounded just right in the dress. The principles did a cracking job with such well known songs as Let’s Hear it For the Boy and Holding Out for A Hero and the whole company had us tapping away in our seats to the iconic Footloose. It was rather funny watching a very tall Bren being chased down by three much shorter characters (one of these was my number two son, number three child so again some vested interest).

A real feel good performance which I am reliably told was even better in the actual run. Number two son was described as “living his best life” which was very probably true for the rest of the cast as well.

CYCC Musical Theatre Years 10 – 13: Merrily We Roll Along
Confession time again – I had two youngsters involved in this one – my eldest (16 year old) was cast as Beth and my number two son – in his second musical in as many days – cast as Beth’s son, Frank Junior. There is something quite bizarre in a conversation that has “So your brother is also your son” in it.

Anyway – I digress – back to the show. The composition of the music itself does absolutely nothing for me personally – I find it harsh and jarring and I didn’t come away feeling like I had a song stuck in my head HOWEVER that didn’t detract from the wonderful performances from these youngsters. All the principles carried the story over really well whilst very capably supported by the ensemble and there were some strong vocal performances throughout of some very difficult songs.

From the nasty haughtiness of Gussie and the despondancy of Mary through to the vulnerability of Beth and the rejection of Charlie and Joe these youngsters did themselves proud. The young actor playing Frank managed to take the audience along on his journey back through time as we realised that he was led by ambition and blinded by the promise of greener grass which led to pain for Mary, Charlie, Frank Jr and Beth and ultimately pain for himself whilst Gussie just oozed entitlement.

Two special mentions now – one for my lass with her performance of Not A Day Goes By left me gobsmacked. Throughout the first half we are told about how nasty Beth had been, how she had fleeced Frank for all his money and took his child when they divorced but when she sang this song you realise that Beth is broken, betrayed and so very hurt. The performance was beautiful and so full of emotion whilst still holding all the notes – a difficult feat for accomplished performers let alone one of only 16 years old. Yes I know I am biased and I knew my lass could sing but I had never seen her act so well and my heart broke for Beth – especially when Frank Junior came running on calling for his Daddy and Beth led him away gently yet forcibly leaving behind a character who realised (for a few minutes at least) that he had ruined the best thing in his life.

The second mention goes to Mary who I just wanted to scoop up and make her feel better. You see her downfall into drink caused by the unrequited love she has for Frank, you see her pain at his wedding and you see her desperately trying to hold a friendship together that fractured as soon as Gussie blindsided Frank. The young lady playing Mary managed to bring such sadness and vulnerability into that role so a special mention to her as well.

Once again the practitioners involved were Hannah, Demi and Carden and once again they managed to find some magic from somewhere to bring these youngsters into their absolute best. What a week they have had – 4 hours a night teching, dress running, teching another, dress running another, dealing with a whole raft of things the audience will never see and they managed to pull off two amazing shows.

The CYCC groups really are an amazing asset for our youngsters and I thank Curve for their continued support of the families involved – offering up opportunities that they might not have elsewhere. As a county we are extremely lucky to have such a wonderful service and leaders available to us and I will be forever grateful for everything they have brought our youngsters – especially over the lockdowns when they offered online sessions which helped my lass keep some remnant of hope.

If you ever get the chance to watch a CYCC performance in the future – go – give it a try and you will be pleasantly surprised at the talent our County has to offer.

I usually name actors involved in a performance but have deliberately avoided that in this instance as they are youngsters.