No drag as this children's talent show takes risks

Published on Thursday 3 April 2008 10:36

Talent the Musical *** St Bride's Centre

IT may have featured a man dressed up as a woman, but Talent the Musical was certainly no drag.

Once again Forth Children's Theatre (FCT) has put together a memorable and enjoyable show, although this Easter holidays production took a few extra risks.

Directed by Katie MacLennan, the show is the story of the Rainbow Room's hottest singer, Stacey (Ruth Granton). After being fired for moonlighting at rival club, Roxy's, Stacey must try to win back the respect of club owners Sam (Matty Smith) and Lilly (Robyn Kinniburgh-Clough).

Easily the stand-out star of the show was Cameron Dyer as Roxy, the rival bar's drag queen owner. Injecting a Lily Savage style of comedy into the show, Dyer actually had a better singing voice than his female co-stars.

Other characters that got more than a few laughs were Kylie and Britney (Gemma Lawson and Natalie Allan), the two blonde bimbo waitresses who constantly try to wow the Rainbow Room audiences with their screechy singing and sexy dancing.

As well as a drag queen, the show contains other controversial elements that are perhaps unsuitable for members of a youth theatre. Female dancers dressed in tight leather outfits and moving provocatively over male co-stars should probably be kept for adult theatre companies.

The show required a number of scenery changes. Although many of these were performed quickly and effectively, some were overly long and others were performed with no music to cover the noise of scraping chairs and scenery.

The accents throughout the performance ranged from Hollywood to Holyrood and it was sometimes difficult to tell if the show was supposed to be set in New York or the New Town.

Although not as enjoyable as previous successes, there's clearly a lot of talent at FCT.

Run ends Saturday.