AIDA The Musical

Gosford Musical Society’s Juniors never fail to deliver. Whether they are staging the last Disney screen to stage adaption or tackling this contemporary rock musical.

Director Kerrie Rochford has brought together an experienced team, who have lead a cast of 42 talented young artists to an outstanding final product. Jissel Toomey’s choreography adds a beautiful level of delicacy to the production. Ben Ross and Vivienne McLaren’s orchestra never falters in the production’s roughly two and a half hour run time. The overall production design with set by Amber Markham, costumes by Jamie McKenzie, and lighting by Damien Rice, wonderfully elevates the production, without stealing focus.

The driving force behind this production is the powerhouse vocals from the three leads; Allegra Hall as titular AIDA, Brandon Alexander as Radames, and Rhiannon Cox as Amneris each give dedicated and professional performances. Equally so Liam Barbeler as Mereb, Abi Yeo as Nehebka, Lachlan Knight as Pharoh and Luke George as Amonasro who carry their roles with class and sincerity. Special mention must be made to Tynan Fuller for his scene-stealing performance as the only “villain”, Zoser.

This reviewer was amazed by the number of people in the foyer after the show, mostly those far removed from the category of “junior,” stunned that the cast “have talent beyond their years”, like it’s new discovery. In actual fact, this is just the talent level of young talent we have access to in this community. Shows like Aida are what they can create when truly given the opportunity and agency to do so.

Aida is a remarkably fresh undertaking by the company, now well into their 72nd year of producing theatre in the Central Coast region. The company, creatives and cast must be commended for taking on such a challenging show and producing a must-see production.

Joshua Maxwell