My First Concert
Wycombe Swan, High Wycombe
Reviewer: Catherine Usher
Amid a sea of flashing star wands, the show actually kicks off before the actors appear on stage – parents trying to get their children to sit down while fretting about booster seats is a pretty entertaining performance in itself.
One mother seems to have enlisted the help of her teenaged daughter to rally her younger sister and the teenager does an amazing job of encouraging and guiding her throughout My First Concert. Plenty of the adults are cranking up their enthusiasm vocally, while their bemused kids take it all in.
There’s a big whooping cheer as the lights go down and the cast bounce out on stage in the obligatory dungarees. There are two main hosts – Jack (Ryan Greaves) and Jill (Jessica Hutchinson) – joined by four backing dancers.
The first group song is Incy Wincy Spider – which is quite old school but, reassuringly, everyone knows the words. Baa, Baa, Black Sheep is particularly amusing since the northern sounding cast are singing “master” while the southern audience pronounce it “marster”. Line-dancing to Old MacDonald Had A Farm is a treat and Little Star (Emily Snooks), dressed in a snazzy silver frock, is a Molly-Mae influencer-style explosion of energy. When the performers and audience sing Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star, all the star wands and mobile torches come out making the auditorium look rather magical.
The plotline, which reveals that no singing or dancing is allowed in Jack and Jill’s village, has echoes of the cult classic 1984 film Footloose and the Zoomies, pledging their support with a special performance for Jack, Jill and their neighbours, help build up towards the finale of excitement. The show concludes with a spirited rendition of Reach Up For The Stars by S Club. For the kids, it’s simply a happy song to end with, but for the adults, who likely remember S Club’s Paul Cattermole, who died in 2023 at the age of 46, it’s a little poignant too.
Ultimately though, this is definitely a feelgood show that engages the age group it’s intended for (two to seven-year-olds) throughout. For them, the appearance of Pinkfong and Baby Shark is an exciting celebrity sighting, and to attend a show where they are encouraged to sing and dance along creates a very relaxed and positive atmosphere.
