What I liked
Despite the fact that I’m not a gamer or a Pokemon fan at all, like many of the reviewers of this musical, I still enjoyed this show immensely. It’s an ambitious task to tell a tale with multiple locations and there are some great in-jokes for anyone involved in theatre and film that are also accessible to a wider audience too.
My absolute favorite moment in that vein was David Stolworthy’s comment along the lines of “I had a solo here but it got cut for time” – having had to cut things out of my own play to make sure my running time was as advertised, I knew exactly how he felt! He may have lost his song but he still had one of the funniest moments of the show. David’s performance as Felinus was fabulous – excellent physicality, fantastic comic timing and great vocal work.
Tommy McKiernan was excellent. It seemed to me that he has dance skills that weren’t fully utilized and I would have liked to see him (and others) do a more fully choreographed song and dance routine. He’s got great stage presence and an excellent voice that’s a pleasure to listen to. Because he’s a grown man playing a 13 year old boy, we can be forgiven for forgetting that it’s the older man sings a love song revealing his love for him, which would be way more uncomfortable if that fact had been acknowledged in the lyrics…
What I didn't like
There were quite a few times that lines or words were inaudible because of actors not projecting clearly, especially vital if there’s music playing or you’re moving upstage as you exit while doing something extremely physical at the same time. If you’re familiar with the genre it may be that it was easier to work out what was being said. Similarly there were a couple of times in the songs when I was surprised that one or two of the actors singing weren’t able to easily fill the space, and that was all the more evident in comparison to the actors with stronger voices, so I guess what I’m saying is I would have preferred more consistency in the vocal work.
My overall impression
All in all I loved it. I left with a big smile on my face. It was a fun romp and managed to entertain me even though I’m not a Pokemon enthusiast. Some excellent performances and some very funny lyrics.
