Pelican Productions Music Theatre Camp – ‘Twenty’
‘Twenty’ is a spectacular celebration of past and present talent, featuring Adelaide’s finest young musical theatre stars.
Review by Jo Parkinson
Pelican Productions has reached a milestone, celebrating 20 years of Music Theatre Camp and Spotlight. Their latest show ‘Twenty’ is a worthy testament to their amazing achievements in providing a platform for Adelaide’s up and coming musical theatre stars.
The Show
Directed by Jen Frith and Kylie Green, ‘Twenty’ is divided into two entertaining acts featuring medleys from several popular musicals. Opening with a sensational rendition of ‘Hello’ from ‘The Book of Mormon’ the show captures the audience right from the beginning. Lovers of musical theatre will enjoy this singing and dancing extravaganza, with snippets of other musicals such as Annie, The Great Gatsby, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, The Lion King, Guys and Dolls, Beetlejuice and finishing off with &Juliet and SIX! The Musical.
Don’t be fooled into thinking that because the performers are young, that the standard is anything less than professional. These incredible and inspirational young people aged from 8-19 years are clearly receiving training from the industry’s best, and it shows in the way they conduct themselves on stage and the amazing talent that each performer brings to the show.
Highlights
Our highlights include the mind-blowing vocals by the younger performers in ‘Annie’, the genuine emotion and incredible talent had audience members hanging onto every note in complete awe. We also loved the creative and extremely clever use of props, puppets and costumes in act two’s ‘The Lion King’ as well as the pitch perfect harmonies in ‘&Juliet and SIX!’
As a special celebration for the finale, past alumni from 2004-2024 were also showcased and what a treat that was. Singing a very emotional ‘From Now On’ from ‘The Greatest Showman,’ many of these fabulous older performers have gone on to enjoy success as professional musical theatre performers, and they had the audience both crying and clapping along at the same time! The show ended by receiving a well-deserved standing ovation.
Production Design
The cast in each show is huge, with close to 100 performers in each of the four cast rotations. This is then broken up into a junior and senior ensemble, taking in turns to showcase the different musical numbers so that the stage never feels overcrowded. Costumes are of a high standard and although there isn’t much in the way of set design, simple props and images projected onto the cyclorama is all that is really needed. The show moves seamlessly from one musical to another, keeping the energy flowing. There is also a real sense of friendship and teamwork that comes across from the performers, many of which come back year after year to perform together.
The show goes for approximately two and a half hours with one interval, so we recommend it for anyone who loves musical theatre and for children aged 8 years or older.
We loved watching ‘Twenty’ and congratulate Pelican Productions on their fabulous effort in working with around 10,000 children over the last 20 years and look forward to seeing more of their shows in the future.
For more information and all enquiries please visit the Pelican Productions website.
At Play & Go Adelaide we make every effort to provide accurate information to the best of our knowledge at the time of publication. We recommend confirming times, dates and details directly before making any plans as details may be subject to change.
Image Source: Jo Parkinson for Play and Go Adelaide
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