As November draws to a close, you can feel the palpable sense that Christmas is coming!
This year we got a little bit of a headstart on feeling all merry and bright when we headed to the theatre to catch Junior Claus, the latest production by SRT's The Little Company. The anticipation was rife as we sat in our seats waiting for the show to start with the stage curtains drawn. And when the curtains finally opened, my kids broke into huge smiles at the wonderful winter wonderland that came into view. The happy red and green, the inviting stripes of candy canes, the snow, and of course the presence of Santa's workshop with it's spinning cogs really set the scene for the tale in the North Pole that unfolded before our eyes.
The story: Junior Claus is Santa's son, an eager inventor who does not quite believe in Christmas magic. When Santa decides to appoint a new head of Santa's workshop and chooses Grumpo the scheming elf instead of Junior, the latter angrily decides to leave home. All these set off a chain reaction which causes the Belief-O-Meter (aka the meter that measures belief in Christmas spirit and magic), already at low levels, to dip to a new low. This results in Santa falling into a deep sleep and allows Grumpo the opportunity to put into action his evil plan to stop Christmas, corner the toy market, and force parents to pay ridiculously high prices for toys. Junior meanwhile meets loveable Pengy the Penguin who causes Junior to realise the importance of family and yes, the folly of his ways. Together with Pengy and Chipper the Elf, Junior returns to save Christmas -- with a little help from some unexpected places!
The story might be mostly rather straightforward, but it is the delightful cast brings all the colourful characters to life. My favourite of the lot has to be Pengy! Cheryl Tan (who impressed me in Rapunzel earlier in the year) imbues the character of the irrepressible really really really talkative penguin with a dash of zany and a lot of heart.
Special mention has to be made too of the details of the beautiful set and the special effects that really wowed the kids. A moving sleigh! Riding through the clouds! Snow falling from the ceiling! All these got my kids excited and added to the magic.
(One thing that did surprise me was the length of the production, with Act 1being 50mins and Act 2 being 30 mins, with a 15 min interval in between. My kids did stay engaged throughout but I would imagine that some littles might not. So do take note of that.)
*We were provided with tickets to Junior Claus for the purposes of this review. All opinions remain my own.
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