REVIEW | Claus The Musical, The Lowry

★★★.5

Reviewer - HARRY BROGAN

Claus the Musical is a new musical playing at The Lowry this festive season. Based on the beloved children’s story ‘The Life and Adventures of Santa Claus’ by Frank L Baum. It has had adaptations in film, anime and graphic novels since its 1902 publications. Now there’s a new musical adaptation from writer Simon Warne which showcases a wonderful story for Christmas time. The music and lyrics are by Andy Collyer and the choreography is from Lucina Lawrence.

The show tells the story of Santa Claus and how he came to be the beloved character he is. Abandoned as a baby in the magical Forest of Burzee, he is gifted to Necile, a wood nymph. Claus is brought up in the forest surrounded by mythical creatures - Knooks, Ryls and Fairies and taught that kindness is the most important lesson of all. Although Claus must face a battle against a mean creature called Awgwas.

This new British musical is magical and great for families and young children. The theatre has been completely transformed into the forest of Burzee and the result is simple but playful. Before the story unfolds, the ensemble and the narrator, played by Alwyne Taylor, come into the auditorium and interact with the audience by using sheets and other props. It is a good little addition from director Kate Golledge to set the scene and involve the audience in the forefront of the action. Unfortunately, this felt a little too chaotic. Personally, I feel that fewer props would have been better. There’s a moment when some action in the show could have been fed into the auditorium and continued that interaction which was incorporated at the beginning.

Stewart J. Charlesworth also does the costumes for the show which are well moulded to their character. There are different capes and robes that help the audience identify the different groups of creatures and their status.

Aaron J Dootson’s lighting design doesn’t show strobe lighting. Cyclorama lighting shines on a plain white cloth backdrop. By changing the colours, you were able to identify the different places in the story along with torches to aid some shadow puppetry. There were some great moments when the audiences could focus purely on the puppetry and this definitely aided the storytelling. Lighting and puppetry worked really well together in this piece and were a heartwarming element of the production.

Harry Winchester who played the title character of Claus at a younger age was great, Harry was great showing how much the character loved to be kind. However, when it came to the moment when Claus turns immortal and the character only had the glasses of Santa, it felt that the character didn’t have a lot of change. I would have loved to have seen this change through his body language and also his voice, maybe talking in the voice of Santa rather than keeping his voice as the young Santa. 

I found it a little difficult to identify the two differences. It was only when Claus had his red suit on and when Claus said “I can't live forever”, that made me realise who he was. Harry played Claus with good energy and showed the character’s love for Christmas. His overall performance was very good. 

Jazz Evans takes on the wicked King Awgwa and immediately demonstrated a strong presence in this delivery. There is a great relationship between his character and Harry Winchester. Necile is played by Georgie Buckland. Her emotional response to Claus from the beginning of the show is endearing. It becomes a bit confusing by the end when we are told she is the narrator of the story. An addition of some foreshadowing throughout the show would have made this more effective. Georgie’s overall performance was really good. Her singing was great and she was great at performing the songs, and also showed the meaning of the song brilliantly and her connection with the other characters was great, especially Claus and Shiegra. 

The cast of 14, some multi-rolling from ensemble to principal role did a great job of transitioning between their various responsibilities. They gave a magical performance in telling the story of Santa. They all helped display the locations of the show by using dramatic movements when moving across the stage, which I have never seen in a show before but to be honest makes the show unique and different to many others which is a great thing to see. 

Overall, the show is unique and different with dramatic choreography and elements of theatre that I have never seen before like shadow puppets. There were a lot of different elements used and it was definitely creative. It’s a magical Christmas story that feels true to the original book and feels that it’s how L Frank. Baum would have wanted it to be told on stage in the modern day. The show's message of love and kindness is definitely the main theme of the show. I feel the storyline and shows are perfect for families and for people who have never been to the theatre, to be introduced to, with great songs that help tell the story. If you enjoy exploring new musical theatre, Claus The Musical is definitely worth seeing for yourself.

Claus The Musical is performing at The Lowry until 8 January. Book your tickets.
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*Disclaimer: AD | Gifted Tickets