Review: UMMTS presents Ordinary Days

Ordinary Days boasted to be a funny, intimate and fast-paced musical full of vibrant and memorable songs. And that is exactly what the UMMTS production provided. The “intimacy” began when having to walk across the almost pitch black Owen’s Park Main Hall to find the stage, situated in a tiny corner of the hall, fronted by the Musical Director, Joshua Martin, welcoming our arrival on the piano.

George Boomsma was the first cast member to sing in this cast-of-four musical, and he opened the show with the animated and dramatic character Warren. George proved to be the unmistakable star of the show, combining comedy with raw emotion that forced the audience into awe, and tears, at the sheer quality of his voice.

Jenny Tilley as Deb was pure genius, and her comic timing in the scenes with Warren were the highlights of the show. Together they created their characters and stuck to the narrative arc with great skill.

The climax of the production had to be the visually stunning act of some 200 flyers being thrown above the audience to create a multicoloured “storm cloud of papers.”

Sophie Day, too, showed great vocal capability as Claire, and brought the audience to tears in her retelling of the death of her first husband. She was somewhat hindered, however, in her scenes with new boyfriend Jason, played by Jonathan Wooldridge. This was due to the clear lack of competence displayed by Jonathan, although there were moments between the couple that were really quite touching.

The use of lighting was rather unorthodox, with around 15 different lamps situated across the set, but did look quite brilliant in its effect, so kudos to the set/lighting designer. There were more than a few instants when the singers and pianist were out of time with one another, and it almost felt like a battle of forces to try and regain control, which served only to pull the audience away from the intimacy of the piece.

All in all Ordinary Days was a great night out, and beautifully acted by the four cast members.