Review: Pinocchio

Hey readers!
It's time for my review of Pinocchio.
The musical version of Pinocchio was first announced to be in development in July 2015, and ever since then I have been really curious as to what this musical adaptation was going to be like. Therefore, when it began performances in December 2017, I was eager to go and see it. I am very sorry to say that Pinocchio was far from what I was expecting and I left the National Theatre feeling extremely disappointed. It pains me to say this, but Pinocchio may even be my least favourite musical of all time.

I would argue that one of the reasons that I failed to connect with this show was due to the fact that I felt there was a lack of clear direction. This actually surprises me, as the director of this production was John Tiffany, and all past productions that Tiffany has directed have bene done so to great effect. Pinocchio seems to be very unsure as to who their target audience are; on the one hand, some parts of the show are extremely juvenile, but on the other hand, there are many scenes within the play that would make many young children frightened. I was left extremely unsure as to who this production was aimed at. I came to the conclusion that it may be directed at tweens (aged 10-12), but even then, I'm not quite sure that this would have been my cup of tea as a tween either. The other main issue which contributed to me not being able to connect with this production was the way it has been written. There were large chunks of the story that failed to make sense to me and I was able to find a fair amount of plot holes. I was also left somewhat disappointed with portions of the dialogue, with many lines coming across as unnatural and unrealistic.

The cast of Pinocchio had both strengths and weaknesses, however I would like to give special mentions to Audrey Brisson as Jiminy Cricket, Mark Hadfield as Gepetto, Annette McLaughlin as the Blue Fairy and Gershwyn Eustache Jnr as Stromboli. Despite not having the best dialogue to work with, all the actors mentioned performed to the best of their ability. I would also like to give a special mention to all of the puppeteers in this production, who were all fantastic.

I held mixed thoughts on the set design, which was created by Bob Crowley. The set that is used iscertainly serviceable, but it is a little simplistic and it could definitely be expanded. They have the basics for the set and it looks quite good, but I would have liked it a little more if it had been increased in size. The costume design was a little bit 'hit and miss'. There were some of the costumes that looked excellent, such as the marionettes which are featured at the end of act one. However, there were also some costumes, such as Pinocchio's, that looked as if not a lot of thought had gone into them. I was quite impressed with the puppetry design and I thought that the facial features of the puppets had been well created, however there was a certain flaw to the puppets which left me somewhat perplexed. The puppets in Pinocchio are legless, which somewhat weakened the realism of the characters.

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

Audrey Brisson brought a lot of energy onto the stage and into the character of 'Jiminy Cricket', which I felt increased the overall enjoyment factor of the production. Whilst I wasn't too impressed with the show, Brisson certainly made it more entertaining to watch!

Now for my final verdict on Pinocchio. I give Pinocchio...

It honestly pains me to give this rating, but considering how much I struggled to find positive aspects of this show, I decided that it would only be fair to award Pinocchio one star. Some of the shows that I have given two stars , have had a few good qualities, so it would not be fair to give Pinocchio the same rating as those. 

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

Thanks for reading!

-The Reviewer