Songs From Stage & Screen

15 year old director, Ben Francis, of Promise Adelaide (a non-profit organisation dedicated to promoting Youth Theatre & Performing Arts in South Australia) is to be commended for putting together a lively and warm-hearted revue in honour of Pink Ribbon Day, proceeds of which were donated to Breast Cancer research. 

The show transpired on an utterly bare stage, but the spirited choreography of Douglas Wiseman (18) and Emily Goldsmith (16), which made imaginative use of the cabaret style audience seating kept things visually interesting. Kudos also to Musical Director, Serena Martino-Williams (16), whose  finely nuanced vocal arrangements, did much to compensate for the sometimes cheap-sounding, overly synth-heavy pre-recorded backing tracks. For their next project, Promise Adelaide might want to seriously consider investing in a band to add an extra layer of live energy to the proceedings. 

The song selection was quirkily unpredictable, mixing all the usual “breakout hits” from popular shows (“On My Own”, “Memory”, “Can You Feel The Love Tonight?”) with idiosyncratic “character songs” (“Well Did You Evah?”, “Reviewing The Situation”, “Snoopy”). A few choice numbers from more obscure works (such as “Once More I Can See”, from the cult Broadway flop “Wonderland”) were also included, and on the whole, the concert covered a surprisingly wide range of musical genres…  from old-school classics such as “West Side Story”, “Annie” and “The Wizard Of Oz”… to edgier modern works like “Rent”, “Next To Normal” and “Matilda”.

All the ensemble  - which included Camryn Jordans (15), Georgia Broomhall (18) Hannah Hamilton (14), Leah Harford (16), Maddy Grey (17), Onor Nottle (13), Tahlia Fantone (18) Benji Riggs (17), Connor Olsson-Jones (15), Jack Conroy (14), Lachlan Williams (16) and Sebastien Skubala (11) - are talented far above and beyond their tender years. Though there were some nerves in evidence – a slight lisp in the delivery of certain phrases in “Once More I Can See”, a little shakiness at the start of  “On My Own” and “Over The Rainbow” – none of these were dealbreakers and EVERY SINGLE CAST MEMBER truly delivered triple threat performances of a professional-standard, astonishing both in terms of technical finesse and emotional intensity, ultimately provoking a standing ovation from the audience. 

Francis, who also acted as MC, sometimes stammered in his between song patter, but had some very winning off-the-cuff jokes. Breast Cancer survivor, Jenni Eyles, and Youth Arts Advocate, Fiona DeLaine, came onstage to deliver deeply poignant speeches that were not without some measure of humour.

Tis’ a pity that this was a one-night-only event. If it had been the first in a series of performances then I would have concluded this review by saying that anyone even remotely interested in musical theatre should go check out these bright young stars of tomorrow and help support a good cause while they were at it. Unfortunately, by the time this review gets to print “Songs From The Stage & Screen” will have been and gone.  Still, I hope if they’re reading this, my review has provided the team at Promise Adelaide with encouragement and constructive criticism that will serve them well in their future endeavours… which I will watch out for with interest, for if this show is indicative of what they are capable of now, then theatregoers will surely be able to look forward to even greater wonders as their talent matures.  

Benjamin Orchard