The Norfolk Youth Music Theatre present The Card, a musical charting the rise of cheeky northerner Denry Machin from washerwoman's son to Mayor of his town. A young, 25-strong ensemble make up the cast and are accompanied by a live band of seven.There are some very impressive performances put in by these young actors. Fraser Davidson as Denry Machin is particularly accomplished at both singing and acting and takes on the weighty task of carrying the entire musical with ease. He is supported by the comical Charley Nicol as his disappointed mother and Jess Davidson as his troublesome fiancée.The musical is strongest when all the cast are singing together. Their harmonies are delightful to listen to, particularly in 'Typical Machin' and 'Time to Spend (Beside the Sea)'. The energy of the ensemble was engaging - they all threw themselves into the performance and coped very well with the regional accents.Unfortunately, The Card suffered from the usual problems of a show with a big cast and lots of scene changes. The transitions were overlong, boring and broke up the action. Solo singers often struggled with volume and this is a criticism that can be made for the show as a whole. The performance space is very big and it became very difficult to pick out some of the lines, meaning we lost whole chunks of narrative.The young cast work very hard but are unfortunately held back by a musical which isn't very entertaining. Commendation must go to the ensemble for their energy and enthusiasm.
