No less than seven pieces of original music feature in the one hour show – four songs and three pieces of incidental music which are used to to set a scene or introduce a new character. All composed by musician and cast member Carly Davis who plays the witch.
Right from the start of the development stages of the show we wanted our version of Hansel and Gretel to have a european folk music feel with Director Alex very much wanting the music to take the audience on a journey. With this in mind Carly went on to create lots of different songs and music to reflect the show's story, these were then edited down and developed in the rehearsal process (and according to which cast members could play which instruments).
We use a lot of instruments in the show – guitar, ukulele, accordian, double bass, trombone, clarinet, recorder, drum sticks (making drums out of the set) and glockenspiel. The show's winter forest set certainly provides lots of handy resting places for these...
All five cast members have musicial backgrounds but even they had to learn to play some new instruments for the show. For instance, Mia who plays Hansel and Gretel's Norwegian stepmother can play very well the trombone and clarinet so both are used in the show, but she has also learnt some bits of music on the double bass so she plays that at some points as well.
The result? Listen to two songs from the show 'Breadcrumbs' and 'All the food was gone' below to find out...
For those thinking about coming to see the show, but perhaps haven't booked tickets yet listen to what Junction audiences think below on audio boo...
We saw the show yesterday with 17 year old son Dan who has Angelman Syndrome. We all loved it. The best thing we have seen for months.
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