Fairyland The Musical

This independent musical, written and directed by Peter Frow, follows a magical adventure as a family journey into fairyland.

Immediately Fairyland The Musical invites us in with its opening, utilising an alluring sound design as the backstory is presented to the audience — in fact the sound and vocals throughout the recording are crisp and effectively serve the viewers immersion, leading one to forget we’re only watching a recording of the musical and not the show itself.

From the off-set the central spectacle of the piece, and what will live in the minds of audiences most after it ends, is the excellent work on display from this company of performers. Where some companies strive to upstage each other, this group of talents perfectly uplift their fellow cast-mates, with everyone providing energetic emotional performances and consistent vocal clarity.

Recordings of stage shows such as this live or die on how they are captured on camera. That is to say; what is seen and felt in the room may not necessarily translate to screen. However, audiences won’t find this to be the case here. The way this is shot, presenting a mixture between the on-stage recording and visual elements especially for the viewers, strike a careful balance that maintains engagement and never feels out of place.

Unfortunately these strengths may be undermined by some glaring flaws. One of which being the lack of production design. Electing for a projected screen at the back of the stage, this choice leaves the rest of the space feeling bare and results in some bland and awkward blocking — leaving the aforementioned talent to elevate the paint-by-numbers story through their performances alone. There is also an interesting discussion to be had in how this tale handles its songs. It could be argued that songs in musicals should oftentimes be used to further the plot or reflect a change in character. But in this show, some songs seem to do neither. The strongest example of this is James’ song in which he sings viciously about not believing in or liking fairies. This addition doesn’t tell us any information about the character that the audience hasn’t already been presented with, and also doesn’t further the plot in any meaningful way — it’s just there.

Ultimately Fairyland is a recorded musical with magnificent performances, simple but effective songs/ lyrics, and a tale that should leave audiences with a smile by the time the curtain falls.