BABES IN THE WOOD

St Andrew's Youth Fellowship, Sandon

13.02.08

Once upon a time loads of youth clubs put on a panto. Now SAYF is one of the few survivors of this uniquely valuable tradition.

Peter Ellis has been producing them for longer than either of us would care to remember, and indeed this script, by Moira Edwards, first saw the light in 1983. The puns still raised a groan, and a new generation of kids clearly enjoyed bringing the legend to life. There was competitive community singing, music by Rodgers, Sullivan and Abba, amongst others, an Ultraviolet ballet, and lovely scenery by Adam Delf – the woodcut forest, the solid Viol Inn.

The Babes were Megan Galvin and Laura Messin, well matched and very effective in their Cosette duet, one of two raids on Les Mis. Jessica Moore and Antonia Stratton had the most striking costume as the hapless henchman to Mark Dobson's Baron. He was at his best in the 20s duet with Lydia Green's Miss Deed. Another successful duo was the Marion/Robin of Alice Delf and Rebecca Swann, singing Lionel Richie's Endless Love. Laurence Green made a jolly, portly Tuck, and Lauren Clark had lots of character charm as Fido.

The chorus worked hard, to especially good effect in Little Brown Jug and the Finale – We're All in This Together, from the unavoidable High School Musical.