Drama - Nord Anglia

Beauty and the Beast

Featuring amazing sets, beautiful costumes, wonderful voices and a live pit orchestra, Beauty and the Beast was the 2016 all-school production at NAIS Pudong. Running for four nights, the sellout performances featured Anna Lamieri and Teigan Fisher-Stamp sharing the role of Belle, Lucas Sperka as the Beast and Jack Bailey as the despicable Gaston.

For the first time, two student producers, Frances Riddington and Nicola Brent, were enlisted to work with the cast, doing a truly professional job bringing together a very polished performance. The audience clapped, cheered and booed as this much loved tale unfolded on the NAIS Pudong stage, and were delighted when cast members in character mingled with them during intermission.

The pit orchestra, led by Mr Phillip Bailey, Director of Music and the Arts, gave note perfect performances playing the full score including such memorable songs as "Be Our Guest" and "Beauty and the Beast".

Footloose

From opening night to the final curtain call, Footloose was a tour de force showcasing the talent of our Secondary students. Over four nights, the cast brought alive the struggles of a group of teens in a small American town where dancing was banned.

Emiliano D'Angio and Pia Herrera shone as Ren and Ariel, the show's stars and love interest. Showing both their vocal and dancing agility, they and the rest of the cast belted out some of the best loved songs of the 80s, including Holding Out for a Hero, Let's Hear It for the Boy and, of course, Footloose.

The Wizard of Oz

Clarissa La Scola as Dorothy, Tinah Otula as Scarecrow, Maggie Brash as the Cowardly Lion and Jonathan Dodd as the Tin Man displayed a wonderful stage chemistry, bringing their roles to life.

The confident, dedicated and very colourful cast and crew didn't miss a beat as they followed the yellow brick road all the way to the Emerald City.

Robin and the Hoodies

They stole from the rich and gave to the poor… and they looked fabulous in green tights! The Junior School production of Robin and the Hoodies was a romping, occasionally riotous and thoroughly joyous canter through the woods with every student in the school taking part.

The cast was led by Year 5 students who have been working hard over the term to perfect their leading roles, with a definite focus on getting the punchlines just right. This unconventional musical adaptation of Robin Hood featured Robin (Amelie Zou) and his merry men as a group of performers for hire unaware of their reputation as bandits. The Merry Men are sought out by a very feisty Maid Marion (Sophie Hugo) to deal with the greedy Sheriff of Nottingham (Eva Touze).

Students from Year 3 to Year 5 helped the story to unfold through song and dance, encouraging the audience to join in as well. A production on this scale was made possible through some very clever direction, with students from each year group pouring down the side stairs of the auditorium to gather on the stage for their numbers, only to pour back up them and be replaced by more performers. The sheer delight in performing before a packed auditorium was evident on the faces of all the children, and was mirrored in the faces of their family and friends in the audience.

The show-stopping finale, featuring more than 300 Junior School students assembled on stage and lining the stairs, brought the audience to their feet in a rousing ovation.