FLAPPER - A ROARING 20'S MUSICAL Hills Youth Theatre Stirling Community Theatre Until 16 Aug 2015 Review by Brian Godfrey If we are to believe musicals such as “Thoroughly Modern Millie”, “Irene”, “No, No, Nanette” and even “The Drowsy Chaperone” (and who wouldn’t), the Roaring 20s were great fun – especially if you lived in a mansion on Long Island, New York. Tim Kelly and Bill Francoeur’s musical comedy, “Flapper” is a fun, gay (in the old fashioned sense of the word) romp through everything good about the 1920s: the Charleston, flag-pole sitting, goldfish swallowing, speakeasies, mad-cap heiresses and dashing pilots. Under Judy Sampson’s direction the Hills Youth Theatre production of “Flapper” is lively, colourful and good fun. Perhaps Sampson could have given her senior student cast a touch more comedy business to do, but that’s a minor quibble. She certainly has imbued the feel and style into the overall look. The set design by Zoe Hilton, Holly Peter and Yolanda Tree adds to this with its lush greenery and Gatsby style window flats – not to mention the wonderful sweeping staircase. Sampson must also be congratulated for managing to fill the small Stirling Community Theatre stage with twenty eight young people and not have them cluttering or blocking anyone else. The talent of those twenty eight does vary a little – from the ‘I’m not quite sure what I’m doing, but I’ll give it my best shot’ to ‘I was born to play this part’. As the title flapper, Polly Pepper, Serenna Williams was certainly born to play the part: she is absolutely glorious and sensational! She looks and acts the part perfectly, reminding one of a young Rachel Beck. As her beau and paramour, Buck Wayne (you’ve just got to love the names), Ben Krieg looks every bit the matinee idol; acting and dancing quite well and with a quite beautiful tenor singing voice for someone so young. On opening night, he just seemed a little tentative at times, but has no reason to be – he’s pretty good at strutting his stuff. Other standouts were Raife Gehren as el smootho radio announcer, Ted Loveland; Carina Crowhurst (Mona Schlumpgarden); Tom Tassone and Imogen Deller-Evans (Duke and Duchess of Milford); Matilda Hilton (Susan Stuyvesant-Fish); and Zoe Hilton as zany, zesty flapper Tweedles. Lachlan King (Tommy) deserves a special mention for having just the right amount of energy and bounce required for the dance routines – well done, young man. The main thing wrong with the production is the loudness of the music backing track. The youngsters do their best, but tend to have their voices drowned out making most of the lyrics unintelligible. Despite this, the show is fun; the cast have fun; and, most importantly, the audience has a great deal of fun.