Review of Aladdin at Harpenden Public Halls

Last night, my six year-old son, Alfie, and I went along to Harpenden Public Halls for the opening show of Aladdin performed by The Hurst Theatre Children’s Group.

Jonas Hurst, who runs the group and who co-wrote and directed the show, pre-warned us that being the first performance, and indeed the first full run through, it might be a little less than slick. Undeterred we sat back in our seats amidst the audience largely made up of parents, grandparents, siblings and friends of the young starlets on stage.

Engaged by the young performers from curtain up, we laughed at the jokes and giggled at the slapstick comedy elements. We aaahed when the ‘Weenie Genies’ came on stage – the youngest of them being only three year’s old, and booed the villain Fu Manchu with great gusto, joining in the ongoing joke of ‘bless you’ whenever his name was mentioned.

Yes, there were a few forgotten and fluffed lines but not many when you consider that this group of young people only meet for an hour once a week and have only been rehearsing since November. And from my point of view it only added to the endearing nature of the show. Plus I was really touched by the way the cast pulled together to prompt each other through. A great nod to teamwork.

What we did witness were some very confident performances; lines projected well, beautiful singing voices, fantastic costumes, great scenery and a whole lot of fun. Indeed, there was a sense of great enjoyment throughout, which filtered from the stage, to the audience and even out to front-of-house.

At one stage Alfie was giggling so much, he was drawing attention away from the stage. His review: “a bit scary, funny, and someone was in the wrong show,” his reference being to Prince Charming, who kept popping up on stage in search of Cinderella.

In true panto style, the Hurst’s managed to treat the grown-ups to some good adult jokes, and in turn the children had their fair share of funnies to chortle at. Widow Twanky, in a two-foot tall wig, provided great comic entertainment, as did the camp Genie of the lamp. Aladdin at only 12 did a marvellous job. But really it’s hard to single out any one of these competent and committed kids. They all did such a great job and fully deserve the applause that it still ringing in my ears.

 Here’s to a great run!

Aladdin is on at The Public Halls until Saturday 23rd January. See here for booking details.