By Eeva Tudor
A few weeks ago, I got the opportunity to visit the Theatre Royal to see the new ‘smash hit’ ‘kickass-pirational’ musical ‘Fantastically Great Women’ after receiving tickets for its tour as a Christmas present. I think that this is one of the best musicals I have seen yet. I have seen and performed in lots of musicals and the cast and musicians were absolutely phenomenal!
The musical is based on the award-winning picture book by Kate Pankhurst who is a descendant of the famous suffragette Emmeline Pankhurst who also is featured in the show. Join our inquisitive heroine, Jade as she breaks away from her class trip to take a peek behind the scenes at the not yet open Gallery of Greatness in the local museum. Along her journey she meets the incredible wonder women: Frida Kahlo, Rosa Parks, Amelia Earhart, Marie Curie and Emmeline Pankhurst to name just a few. ‘Fantastically Great Women’ is an empowering new stage show which will be celebrated by anyone who is prepared to move and be moved, with characters and songs that pack a popstar punch!
The touring cast included Georgia Grant Anderson as Jade, our young heroine, Jennifer Caldwell as Emmeline Pankhurst, Agent Fifi and Ms Johnson, Elena Breschi as Sacagewea, Frida Khalo and Marie Curie, Chloe Hart as Gertrude Ederle, Jane Austen and Mary Anning, Leah Vassel as Amelia Earhart, Rosa Parks and Mary Seacole, Millie Kiss as Anne Frank and last but not least, Rachel Seirian and Summer Priest as swings - or understudies.
The hilarious opening number ‘Quiet children’ set the scene as a school trip to a museum with a pop group of teachers wishing their classes would be quiet and well-behaved for just once! Afterwards, Jade, after arriving late and finding that the group has left her, has a beautiful solo, wishing that someone would listen to her, or even just notice her.
Then, she notices the entirely off-limits unopened ‘Gallery of greatness’, decides to head in for a look and meets Amelia Earhart, the famed pilot; Sacagewea, the overlooked Native American Shoshone guide to explorers Lewis and Clark and Gertrude Ederle, the first woman to swim the English channel. They give her advice on how to decide what she wants to do to change the world in the song Where do you wanna go.
After this, Jade runs into Emmeline Pankhurst, the suffragette leader who then has an upbeat rap number named for the famous slogan of the movement, “Deeds not words,” that was so catchy I could not stop humming it to myself for days! When Emmeline leaves, Jade begins to come up with ways to start changing HER world for the better, of course some of them may include getting a hamster.
Jade then encounters Frida Khalo, Mexican painter, and confides in her that nothing is going to plan with her parents’ divorce. Frida then explains how her life did the exact opposite of going to plan but that eventually she learned to embrace it and discovered the joy in painting (World of Colour). Jane Austen then also makes an appearance and explains to Jade that you don’t have to be a Suffragette or an athlete to change the world, writers and artists can too.
The next three women we meet are Mary, Mary and Marie who sing a pop trio song of the same name. Mary Anning, the palaeontologist and first to discover the ichthyosaurus. Mary Seacole, the Jamaican nurse of the Crimean War we owe many of today’s nursing standards to and Marie Curie, the Polish scientist who made many discoveries that aided development of cancer treatments today. We also meet Agent Fifi, a british secret agent during World War 2.
And last, but most certainly not least, we are introduced to the brilliant Rosa Parks, an African-American civil rights activist and Anne Frank, German-born jewish teen who kept a diary during the holocaust in WW2. Rosa sings a powerful, slow ballad (Rosa’s Lullaby)
Overall, this musical, in short, was great, or I guess you could say Fantastically Great! Everything from the costumes, to music, to actresses, to the energy of the performance was just perfect. It could not have been better. Definitely five stars and a must see for any musical theatre fans!
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