REVIEW: Charles Hutchinson’s verdict on Pick Me Up Theatre in Nativity! The Musical ***

Jack Hooper’s Mr Poppy: Top of the Poppies

Pick Me Up Theatre in Nativity! The Musical, Grand Opera House, York, November 29, 30 and December 2, 7.30pm; December 1, 2pm and 7pm; December 3, 12pm and 4pm. Box office: 0844 871 7615 or atgtickets.com/York

THIS is the festive turkey and stuffing in Pick Me Up Theatre’s sandwich of three shows in a matter of autumnal months. First, Matilda The Musical Jr at Theatre@41, Monkgate, in September, now Nativity! The Musical, and lastly Rodgers & Hammerstein’s The Sound Of Music, back at Monkgate, only a fortnight after Nativity’s finale.

As a flyer in the Nativity! programme pronounces, no fewer than six productions are in Pick Me Up’s engagement diary, testament to Robert Readman’s restless pursuit of bringing musicals and more (Agatha Christie’s And Then There Were None) to York’s stages.

He made the canny decision of holding open auditions for all this season’s shows simultaneously in June, “so we could get to know the children”, he reasoned.

This is a hugely beneficial experience for his young charges, who are at the heart of all three productions. Matilda The Musical Jr had a wild energy, made great play of words and letters and revelled in the rush and thrill of being unruly in school yet disciplined in choreography and musical numbers on stage.

The school year now reaches the Nativity! season, the climax to the Michaelmas term, in Debbie Isitt and Nicky Ager’s musical adaptation of their hit 2009 British comedy, the first in a frantic franchise of four festive family films that rather fizzled out as the DVD sales nevertheless piled up.

Stuart Piper’s lovelorn Mr Maddens

Readman had directed the 2011 York premiere of Tim Firth’s Flint Street Nativity, in truth a wittier work that definitely would have met with the approval of Nativity’s arch, flouncing critic Patrick Burns.

Readman, who never performed in a Nativity play in his schooldays, was delighted to receive the rights thumbs-up for Nativity!, a show marked with “British humour, children being themselves, pathos and daftness, and a romantic, happy end,” he says.

Birmingham Rep, by the way, has picked Isitt’s musical for its Christmas production in the Second City, no doubt drawn to those very qualities so necessary for a family show. Readman serves them all with customary exuberance, to the point of his regularly heard laugh being the loudest in the stalls.

BAFTA Award-winning Isitt’s musical takes the form of a Nativity play within a play, framing her stage adaptation around her original story of flustered, by-the-book teacher Mr Maddens (Stuart Piper) and his unconventional, idiot savant new assistant Mr Poppy (Jack Hooper) struggling with unpredictable children, unruly animals and an unimpressed head mistress, Mrs Bevan (Alison Taylor) when striving to stage St Bernadette’s Roman Catholic primary school’s musical version of the Nativity in Coventry.

Seeking to outdo the bells-and-whistles show mounted at the neighbouring posh school by his scornful ex-childhood friend, Gordon Shakespeare (Stuart Hutchinson), Maddens ups the ante by boasting that Jennifer Lore (Toni Feetenby), his still-missed ex-girlfriend, now working as a Hollywood producer, will be coming to the show with a view to turning it into a film.

Toni Feetenby’s Hollywood-bound Jennifer Lore

Unfortunately, Maddens is lying: he and Jennifer don’t talk any more (and so might she be lying too?!). Doubly unfortunate, Mr Poppy, Mrs Bevan and the local media’s enthusiasm only makes matters worse.

Piper’s Mr Maddens is suitably earnest, self-destructively driven, but, crucially, caring too and a romantic at heart, albeit a deflated one. His beastly bête noir, fellow company debutant Hutchinson’s Gordon Shakespeare, is obsessive, supercilious, priggish, dislikeable but agreeably amusing. Their battle is a highlight, one to be savoured by lovers of long-running theatre wars.

Pick Me Up’s third newcomer among the principals, Jack Hooper, is the show’s five-star turn, reminiscent of both Jack Black’s substitute teacher Dewey Finn in School Of Rock and “silly billy” pantomime characters.

Ignoring the old adage never to act with children or animals, Hooper bonds effervescently with both, his irrepressible Mr Poppy bringing out the best in the excitable pupils, stirring their imaginations with his own inner child, and playing puppy to Cracker the dog. To be serious for a moment, Mr Poppy is also a beacon for why the arts should always matter in schools, encouraging the unconventional among the conventional, as much among teachers as pupils.

Contemplating retirement, Alison Taylor’s Mrs Bevan, a head teacher enervated after so many years of struggle, learns her lessons in life just in time.

Hands up who wants to be in a Nativity musical? Robert Readman’s cast for Pick Up Theatre’s “school” production

Toni Feetenby’s Jennifer, torn between career ambitions and love, is the outstanding singer in a show that complements favourites from the films, such as One Night One Moment and She’s The Brightest Star, with new Christmas-spirited Isitt-Ager additions for the stage version.

The ensemble centrepiece Sparkle And Shine does exactly that, the stand-out in Lesley Hill’s choreography that puts the ensemble emphasis on fun and characterful expression rather more than precision, in the tradition of school Nativity plays, as it happens.

Reaching for the sandwich once more, has Robert Readman bitten off more than he can chew by directing and designing three shows in quick succession, working with children in each of them to boot?!

No, there is plenty to enjoy here, whether theatrical fun and games, school tropes or the climactic bonkers Nativity play in the Coventry cathedral ruin. Not least  Jonah Haig’s Ollie and especially Beau Lettin’s Star on press night in the lead children’s roles, amid a scant regard for the Coventry accent among most of the cast, a smattering of technical frustrations and a staccato rhythm to the second half’s scenes, however.

The sound is problematic on occasion, particularly when Faateh Sohail’s Angel Gabriel takes to the air, with wings, yes, but insufficient volume. Hopefully that hitch has been ironed out, but a better sound balance may be more difficult to achieve among so many children.

Sam Johnson leads the band through George Dyer’s orchestrations with a flourish; a bewigged Rosy Rowley is seen in a new light as Mr Parker, a cynical Hollywood bigwig, and your reviewer wouldn’t dare criticise Johnny Holbek’s flamboyant turn as the waspish local theatre critic. Five stars, darling, five stars.

Expect musical mayhem when everyone wishes to be a star in Pick Me Up’s Nativity!

Toni Feetenby’s Jennifer Lore in Pick Me Up Theatre’s Nativity! The Musical

PICK Me Up Theatre director Readman never appeared in a Nativity play in his North Yorkshire schooldays.

“My first appearance on stage was as an animal in Snow White,” says Robert, whose production of Nativity! The Musical opens at the Grand Opera House, York, tomorrow (24/11/2022).

“My brother Mark was King Herod in Bubwith Church in 1969! The first time I got close to a Nativity was when I directed the York premiere of Tim Firth’s Flint Street Nativity at the Joseph Rowntree Theatre in 2011.”

How he is at the helm of Debbie Isitt and Nicky Ager’s musical, adapted for the stage by the creator of the British franchise of four family Christmas films released between 2009 and 2018.

Stuart PIper: Making his Pick Me Up Theatre debut as Mr Maddens in Nativity! The Musical

“I was looking for a Christmas show as our Grand Opera House slot falls pre-panto,” says Robert. “Scott Garnham [Malton-born actor, singer and producer] played Mr Maddens in the professional tour and West End run, and I knew that if Scott had loved it, we would too. I also love the film!

“I managed to gain the rights in April 2021. Browsing on the Music Theatre International website, I applied, assuming it would be a ‘No’ because it had been on a professional tour, and so I was very surprised and delighted to get a ‘Yes’!”

The musical is based on the original film. “All the gags are there and the grand finale in the bombed Coventry Cathedral ruins,” says Robert, introducing the story of St Bernadette’s School attempting to mount a musical version of a Nativity play. “The only trouble is, teacher Mr Maddens has promised the children that a Hollywood producer is coming to see the show to turn it into a film.”

Against this backdrop, Mr Maddens, his crazy teaching assistant Mr Poppy and the unruly children struggle to make everyone’s Christmas wish of starring in the Nativity play come true.

Christmas quackers: Jack Hooper’s Mr Poppy in Nativity! The Musical

“Nativity! is loaded with British humour, kids being themselves, pathos and daftness, and there’s a romantic happy end,” says Robert.

“The music is very catchy and totally suits the essence of the story. As Debbie Isitt directed the film, she had a natural understanding of what style was required, and the melodies add a whole new element to the script, based very closely to the screenplay. I just love the music.”

Nativity! The Musical features all the sing-a-long favourites from the film series, such as Sparkle And Shine, Nazareth, One Night One Moment and She’s The Brightest Star.

“They’re complemented by a whole host of new songs filled with the spirit of Christmas,” says Robert. “Mr Poppy gets a solo, the ensemble is given songs, and the romance between Mr Maddens and Jennifer Lore is told in music.”

School roll call-cum-role call: All the St Bernadette’s pupils and teachers, as played by Robert Readman’s cast for Pick Me Up Theatre’s Natvity! The Musical

Joined in the production team by musical director Sam Johnson and choreographer Lesley Hill, Robert is directing a cast that combines faces both new and familiar to Pick Me Up audiences.

Making their company debuts will be Stuart Piper as Mr Maddens, Stuart Hutchinson as Gordon Shakespeare and Jack Hooper as Desmond Poppy, while the returnees will include Toni Feetenby as Jennifer Lore, Jonny Holbek as The Critic ( Patrick Burns) and Alison Taylor as Mrs Bevan. Look out too for Rhian Wells’s Miss Rye, Rosy Rowley’s Mr Parker (yes, Mr Parker), Kelly Stocker’s Receptionist and Martin Rowley’s Lord Mayor,

Alongside the principal children’s roles of Ollie (Jonah Haig), Star (Beau Lettin) and the Angel Gabriel (Faatah Sohail) will be Team Shakespeare and Team Poppy, comprising 38 children between them.

“We held open auditions for three shows, September’s Matilda The Musical Jr, Nativity! and next month’s The Sound Of Music all at the same time in June, so we could get to know the children,” says Robert.

Team Maddens at the dress rehearsal for Pick Me Up Theatre’s Nativity! The Musical

“Many of them are in all three shows, and it’s proved a very successful method as the children have become friends, and working with them is a pleasure because they’re relaxed and happy to be in rehearsal. I’ve also been blessed with excellent choreographers, Lesley and her assistants Emily and Lily Walker, and with parents willing to give support.”

Coming next for York company Pick Me Up will be Rodgers & Hammerstein’s The Sound Of Music at Theatre@41, from December 16 to 30. Looking ahead to 2023, “we’ll be celebrating the 60th anniversary of Joan Littlewood’s musical Oh What A Lovely War in April and Agatha Christie’s thriller And Then There Were None in September, both at Theatre@41, Monkgate,” says Robert.

“For Halloween, we’ll be doing a Grand Opera House double bill of Young Frankenstein and The Worst Witch. Christmas will bring Nicholas Nickelby to Monkgate for its York premiere.”

Pick Me Up Theatre in Nativity! The Musical, at Grand Opera House, York, November 24, 25, 26, 29 and 30, December 2, 7.30pm; November 26, 2.30pm; November 27, 3pm; December 1, 2pm, 7pm; December 3, 12pm, 4pm. Box office: 0844 871 7615 or atgtickets.com/York

Copyright of The Press, York

Pick Me Up Theatre’s poster for the York premiere of Debbie Isitt and Nicky Ager’s Nativity! The Musical