• Took a while to get into it, at the beginning I thought it was too ‘kiddy’ and was annoyed that some of the words were unclear, but by the end, was full of admiration for the child cast.
• Enjoyed the singing and particularly the acting of the woman in the ‘good teacher’ role – the way she stayed in character and kept appropriate expressions, eg even while dancing in the ballroom dance number.
• Having been in a few workshops myself where they talk about ‘show’ rather than ‘tell’, I thought there were some very good examples of ‘show’ moments in her acting – simple things like keeping her hands held at her sides and hunching her shoulders to show she is timid and afraid and cowering; simple body positions and gestures can speak so loud on stage.
• Some nice staging moments eg the ‘girl’ falling from the ceiling, the surprise lasers, the swings.
• Music not particularly striking or memorable.
• As with many shows (I’m becoming an expert) I thought the middle of the second act got a bit too turgid/dark/serious/boring.
• I didn’t know the story going in and heard children talking about the fact she does magic and has special powers, so in a way was disappointed that that didn’t develop as much as expected. (I’ve read the book now – bought it at the theatre – the story in the book is more coherent).
• In general, at the start I thought it would be a 5/10 at most but by the end I felt I’d really enjoyed it, so say 8/10.
• Best choreographed curtain call I’ve ever seen, with the scooters – it was nice to be surprised with this simple but effective idea.

Marks out of ten for general enjoyment/entertainment value: 8