SCALAKIDS The Magic of the Musicals was a sparkling evening’s entertainment – packed with song and dance from the world of musical theatre.

This super talented stage school devised, cast, costumed and rehearsed this show in just four days. What an unbelievable achievement. This was an absolutely outstanding production .

We were fully entertained by Scala Babes, Scala Juniors and Scala Seniors from start to finish – the audience were, quite simply, enthralled by the wealth of talent on stage.

The opening of the show brought us some superb performances from The Greatest Showman – the stage was a riot of colourful costumes and superb dance moves - the energy built right from the word go. In complete contrast you could hear a pin drop throughout Charlotte’s divine performance of Never Enough.

The very cute Scala Babes gave us gorgeous performances of When We Play in a Band and Over The Rainbow. This in particular was absolutely beautiful– I would imagine there was not a dry eye in the house when they sang this to accompany the very moving video reminding us of Scalakids wonderful fund raising efforts for Martin House Childrens Hospice – now standing at over £50,000.

There were great selections from Oliver! with Phoebe taking the title role. What a crystal clear singing voice- Where is Love was sung so beautifully. Eleanor’s rendition of As Long As He Needs Me was out of this world - one of the best performances of this number I have ever heard. Her performance of Don’t Rain On My Parade in Act Two, was equally stunning

School of Rock really showcased the talent of these youngsters– each and every person on stage was outstanding. They all had the most amazing voices and stage presence. The energy created in this medley was unbelievable. I have never seen this done professionally, but people who were sat around me told me that they had – and that this performance equalled any that they had seen on the West End stage.

Next we were treated to the brilliant Billy Elliot medley, with a superb performance by Troy as “our Billy”. This whole section delivered outstanding performances from Troy, Leon and Tilly, along with the rest of the company.

The Rodgers and Hammerstein Memories selection by the Scala Singers was a stunning collection of numbers, including Bali Hi, Out of My Dreams, If I Loved You, Shall We Dance, climaxing with Alex’s superb rendition of You’ll Never Walk Alone. All of these numbers were beautifully sung by the gorgeous Seniors (ladies) dressed in very pretty pink matching evening gowns, with movement formations that were so graceful and elegant. Just gorgeous.

Along the way we were also treated to spectacular song and dance performances from Mia S, Mia R, Katie, Amy and Eddie – all brilliantly showcasing their talent in such a wide range of performances from Fame, to La La Land, to Les Mis, to Ghost.

Scalakids – Yorkshires famous stage school – once again delivered the whole package with this production– brilliant staging, dramatic lighting effects (and their trademark star cloth without which it just wouldn’t be a Scalakids show), superb sound and dazzling costumes from start to finish.

A massive congratulations must go to everyone involved – Lynne Walker (Producer), Louise Denison (Director) and Jim Lunt (Musical Director) – you are all top masters in your craft. It seems that this was such a mammoth task to “produce” a show on this scale in a matter of days. You have such a talented bunch of young people with so much energy and they just ooze professionalism – you really should bottle it and sell it.

By Sally Holmes