Published: Friday, 21st August, 2009 1:15am
Loserville is a big winner
by Rose Harland
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A ROCK musical featuring the early days of computers, a love of Star Trek and Star Wars and a hero called Michael Dork might not sound like the coolest way to spend an evening.
But audience members watching Loserville: The Musical, directed by Steven Dexter, knew they were witnessing the start of something very special.
Before the show began a few doubters in the audience could have been sceptical about a musical featuring a cast of unknown teenagers, co-written by someone who made his name in guitar-toting boyband Busted, and being performed for the very first time in front of an audience.
However, as the live band positioned above the stage kicked into action, the cast of 35 youngsters from Youth Music Theatre UK (YMTUK) sprang onto the stage in a blur of coloured cards and eye-catching costumes, and the opening bars of this fantastic new musical by James Bourne and Elliot Davis rang out into the Wilde Theatre any doubts were immediately silenced.
Performing on a stripped down set, the cast, seamlessly choreographed by Nick Winston, transported the audience back in time to a 1970s all-American high school where Michael Dork, played wonderfully by Glen Facey, has to sneak into a computer firm just to get a technology fix - a far cry from today's world where teens won't go anywhere unless armed with a laptop and iPod.
The two female leads, Emily Gill, who played Holly, and Stephanie Turbin as Leia, wowed the crowd with their beautiful voices as the rest of the cast sang and danced to such high standards that their performance would not have looked out of place on a West End Stage - which is no doubt where Loserville is headed in the not too distant future, hopefully along with many of its young and talented cast.
Anthony Bartlett and James Carroll had the audience in stitches as Trekkie double act Francis and Marvin with their, sometimes cheeky, one-liners while Marcus Dobson gave a flawless performance as Lucas Lloyd - a loveable geek who is torn between loyalty to his best friend and a means for his own "ticket outta Loserville".
This heartfelt show about being true to yourself, even if that means not fitting in with the in-crowd, may be about so-called losers but the team behind the show are definitely onto a winner.
I'll have a ticket into Loserville please.
Loserville: The Musical is at South Hill Park until Saturday. To book visit www.southhillpark.org.uk or call 01344 484123.
