I went to my offspring's Christmas nativity concert the other day.
So it's time for my festive review of this festive event.
It was a disappointingly unadventurous production which failed to fully engage me as an audience member. The director failed to coax any form of convincing performance out of her young and eager cast.
The reliance on 3 and 4 year old children in the sow's chorus backfired spectacularly as several of the children failed to join in with the singing, choosing instead to gaze into space, burst into tears or excavate their noses. The also seemed baffeld and constrained by the unimaginative stodgy, static staging and choreography, which promised so much twinkling, but ultimately failed to deliver the goods.
I was unconvinced by the ensemble's rendition of the twelve days of Christmas, particularly the prog-rock inspired 6 geese a laying, the implausibility of the 12 Lords a Leaping backfired spectacularly whilst the portrayal of the 3 French hens was borderline racist.
My daughter seemed to rebel against the over-whelming strictness of the direction, choosing instead to join in all of the carefully staged set-pieces, singing Away In A Manger without due care and attention.
The whole event was a debacle, the young cast was utterly at sea, their limitations cruelly exposed in front of their appalled parents. The frequently cited excuse that they are 'just kids' was something I had to consider, but in truth the performances in all the roles were either inadequate or worse. The few moments that did express creativity or whimsy were random and without context.
Two Stars.
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