Noel Streatfeild’s classic 1936 novel about three adopted sisters who go to drama school is subject to a twist, perhaps in the tradition of all good children’s stories.
Young Paulina (Gratia Saif) is saved from a wreck, Petrova (Yanexi Enriquez) is stranded in Russia, and Posy (Daisy Sequerra) is given away by her dancer mother, who “has no time for children.” So they are taken in by a professor and palaeontologist, Great Uncle Matthew (Justin Salinger), or GUM for short, who immediately delivers them to the two female charges at 999 Cromwell Road and sets off to the case outside: “the pram is in the hallway” is clearly nothing to object to.
The sisters have their adventures, but there are still three boys left who struggle with poverty and labor before their time, although the larks can make the sound of Streatfeild’s story, refusing to sink into darkness.
This version does a lot like Kendall Feaver, although there is girlish angst and craziness between the sisters. But there is a great soul, and taste, and joy, as also they they find their places in the world: Paulini discovers a talent for acting, Petrova for mechanics and Posy for dancing.
Under the direction of Katy Rudd, this is an exceptional Christmas smash show, albeit elegant, that never quite lets down, but is still packed with theatrical performances and fabulous performances all around.
Samuel Wyer’s clothes are tight and Frankie Bradshaw’s set is no less than luminous with old GUM exhibits in glass cases rising up, across the halls of the house, when the cinematography of J Woodward and Paul Constable is lit, they create an almost magical effect of movement: the ancient dinosaurs leave and the sea. the waves roll over the stage.
The scene changes have an amazing fluidity too. Phantasies or flashbacks are conjured up like smoke from the wind, an ingenious, momentary change; He is troubled by the full, recollection, life in the mind of Posy’s playful Russian tutor, Madame Fidolia (brilliantly played by Salinger) who is magnificent in her anguish only beauty.
The family is conspired into a warm matriarchy, the girls led by Sylvia’s great-granddaughters, GUM (Makie Mackie), and Nana (Jenny Galloway), and with the inmates they become an eccentric, non-nuclear family that liberates the girls rather than confines them. them m.
Quietly moving moments about girls’ anxieties and growing pains that feel less like a children’s story, perhaps a little too stilted and emotionally involved, and more of a preteen story. The last of Rudd’s boys show; The ocean at the end of the lanehe elaborated, the child escaped from family difficulties into fantasy. Although this story doesn’t have monsters or the same wild imagination, the girls are still looking for an escape. Fantasy life is the stage that drives them to discover their callings in life.
Lessons about resilience in the straits of the times are woven, not patronized, and to remind children and adults what is most important in life: to hold on to your passions and trust in yourself.
They are surrounded by interwar girls, unmarried women who have left it alone to build a magnificent life including lesbian inmate Dr Jakes (Helena Lymbery). and the dance teacher, Theo, although like the 2007 movie, this version shoehorns in romance and a wedding at the end.
The old style, big band music, composed by Asaf Zohar, captures the age of time and gem Ellen Kane’s choreography captures the iconic silver lining of the musical. But it is a mistake to see this story as an old one: non-domestic, the independence of the female heart lies still refreshingly daring today.