One of my fondest childhood memories was being taken to see Bedknobs And Broomsticks when it first opened in cinemas – oh, the magic when that enchanted bedknob first started to glow.
So, fast forward 50 years and the question is, can the stage version of the iconic film cast a spell?
The short answer is yes, yes it can.
Certainly, this touring production does, brimful as it is with all the memorable songs from the Disney movie, along with superb dance numbers and a compelling, heart-warming story.
But the star of the show is the staging – clever, endlessly inventive and full of “how did they do that?” moments of wonder, courtesy of stage magic and full-on special effects.
There’s one sequence where the only way I can work out how they pulled it off was by actually having a magic broom. So naturally, you just accept there’s a flying bed on the stage.
Furious flurry of brilliant stagecraft
Front and centre is the story of the three Rawlins siblings, evacuees from London of the Blitz to the rural shires, where it turns out they have been boarded with an apprentice witch, Eglantine Price. And she has a plan to beat back the invading hoards with magic.
Of course, it wouldn’t be a Disney film if it didn’t start with something traumatic, in this case, the children’s parents being killed in a bomb blast that destroys their home.
This opening sequence was played out in a furious flurry of brilliant stagecraft, from their cosy bedroom walls flying away to reveal a bombed-out street, through to their perfunctory processing in the evacuee system to their eventual arrival at Pepperinge Eye.
It takes a moment to adjust to the idea the ensemble cast is not only the chorus of the show, but also the scene movers, sometimes the scenery – carrying clouds or pulling trees. They even become gifted puppeteers as the story makes its way towards the animated sequences the original film is famed for.
These hugely talented performers are the bedrock which allows the central cast to absolutely shine.
Conor O’Hara superbly essays 13-year-old Charlie, cheerfully and craftily trying to look after his siblings while suppressing his own grief.
Dianne Pilkington worked magic on stage
Meanwhile, Charles Brunton imbues his fraudster magician, Emelius Browne, with a gangly charm as he makes his way from shyster to believer – and a better man for it.
Working real magic – both in the story and on the stage – is Dianne Pilkington as Eglantine. Her trainee witch is by turn scatterbrained, determined, tender and fierce.
And her voice is a delight, gentle in The Age Of Not Believing, full-throated in the battle cries of Onward, as invaders are driven back by an army of empty armour and clothes, powered by her magic.
Music is at the heart of both the film and the stage version. Everyone knows The Beautiful Briny – I bet you just started singing “bobbing along” in your head.
It arrives, as it should, in one of the most spectacular and fun sequences, set under the sea with the ensemble cast doing the puppet thing to become shoals of brightly coloured fish, while Emelius and Eglantine strut their stuff on a seabed dancefloor.
A different Bedknobs And Broomsticks
But other, arguably lesser-known, songs are given a new lease of life on stage. The frantic search for the other half of a book of spells in Portobello Road becomes a full-blooded dance number involving the full company.
It lifts the sequence into something that wouldn’t look out of place in Wicked. That’s a high compliment.
While it closely follows the film – scene-for-scene at points – the stage version pushes the ending in a different direction. But it’s one that actually works and punches up the happy-ever-after ending rather than detracting from it.
I went into His Majesty’s wondering how they were going to pull off recreating Bedknobs And Broomsticks on stage. I came out with a sense of wonder that they had – just like magic.
Bedknobs And Broomsticks runs until Sunday. For more information visit aberdeenperformingarts.com
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