Review: La Strada

Hey readers!
It's time for my review of La Strada.
I saw La Strada last Saturday (sorry for the delay in writing this!) at Richmond Theatre last minute, because what's better than great value-last minute tickets, right? Having gone last minute, I didn't even know if it was a play or a musical. Funnily enough, it turned out to be a play with music (the best of both worlds). La Strada follows a really inspiring and heartwarming story of "a care-free girl being sold to a travelling entertainer, consequently enduring physical and emotional pain along the way". The show keeps the audience gripped from start to finish. Even through a fairly minimal set, they are able to transport the audience to many locations with ease. The show features an international cast, who are all great. The three cast members who stood out the most were Audrey Brisson as Gelsomina, Stuart Goodwin as Zampanó and Bart Soroczynski as The Fool. Audrey Brisson's character of Gelsomina is a child/teenager and this is wonderfully portrayed through physicality, voice and facial expressions. There have been one or two cases recently where I've found that adults playing children hasn't seemed quite right, but Audrey does it perfectly. She also has a stunning voice, which I wish I had been able to hear more of. Stuart Goodwin is perfectly cast as Zampanó. Throughout the show he is constantly angry and aggressive, however in the final few moments of the show we see sadness and regret from his character. The transition to these feelings was done extremely well. Bart Soroczynski, as The Fool, is an incredible actor and showed a lot of depth to his character. The character came across as being very mysterious, leaving me to imagine his past. All the rest of the cast were also brilliant! I liked both the costume and lighting design, which serviced the show well. The show makes good use of physical theatre, which I believe was well integrated. As I mentioned previously, the show is a play with music (basically a non musical, that features music). The music was wonderful and I loved that the orchestra was onstage. My only quibble with the show if that there is a death scene of a supporting character in act two which felt very awkwardly staged. It's an important moment in the show, but it just didn't seem quite  right. I think this needs some further  rehearsing and a little bit more tweaking.

The featured star of La Strada is, drum roll please... AUDREY BRISSON!

Audrey is stunning, there is no other way to say it. The show just wouldn't be the same without her, she really contributes a lot to both the storyline and the show. Not only this, but she was an incredible singer!

Now for my final verdict on La Strada. I give La Strada...

I give this rating because it was a fantastic show that I enjoyed throughly. It doesn't quite get my top 5-star mark, but it's still a show I would highly recommend for its upcoming run at 'The Other Palace'.

Think it should have got a higher rating? Agree with my rating? Think it should have got a lower rating? If so comment below.

Join me next time when I will be reviewing Gaslight. 

Thanks for reading!

-The Reviewer