Reviews
Lazytown, Newcastle Theatre Royal
THANKS to a young friend,
who was our excited guest,
there was never any real
danger that wefd mistake the
under-ninesf TV hero of Lazytown,
Sportacus, for Kurt Douglasf
gladiatorial star, Spartacus.
Both
do spawn clones. In Sportacusf
case, itfs a small army of boys and
girls wearing his blue and white
striped outfit and hat, goggles
and, surprisingly for a good guy, a
pointed pencil moustache.
This first stage tour to the
region, which York Opera House,
Newcastle Theatre Royal,
Sunderland Empire and
Scarboroughfs Futurist all risked a
few dates on, brings the pram and
pushchair brigade out in force as
a pantomime spirit grips the
audience.
What all parents love about the
TV and stage adaptation is that
this tale is all about a clean-living,
ga little above averageh superhero
who wins children over by
encouraging them to exercise, go
to bed early and eat sports candy,
which (whisper this quickly) looks
just like apples, carrots and
broccoli.
Sadly, the multi-million pound
creator and original Icelandic star,
Magnus Scheving, has stepped
aside to allow the chunkier form of
Julian Essex-Spurrier to
somersault around the stage as
Sportacus.
Kimberley Pena is Stephanie,
the almost-impossibly optimistic
pink-haired heroine who arrives in
Lazytown to stay with her uncle
Mayor Meanswell (Mark Roper).
Stephanie discovers that none of
the residents do any exercise or
sport and joins Sportacus in a
quest to switch youngsters from
virtual games to real ones.
Enter the brilliant big-chinned
villain of the piece, Robbie Rotten
(Scott Joseph), to spoil the fun by
challenging Sportacus with
another superhero called
Roboticus (Vladimir Hub).
Boos, cheers, songs and
slapstick are a bing, bang, blast
thanks to director Richard Lewis,
with most scenes hitting the mark.
My young guestfs only worries
were how the animated TV figures
of Pixel (James Bellamy), Stingy
(Nathan Guy), Ziggy (Tina Walker)
and Trixie (Kae Yukawa) and
Sportacusf airship home were
going to be portrayed. Thankfully,
Mr Scheving knows how to rescue
scripts as well as young people
from couch potato position.
Lazytown returns to the
North-East and North Yorkshire
in the summer. Dates: August
13-16, Sunderland Empire, Box
Office: 0844-847-2499 and
August 19, Scarborough
Futurist, 01723-374500
10:35am Monday 19th May 2008
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