Standing at the Skys Edge is a heartwarming musical about love and familial relationships growing through time. The musical explores love and home. Standing at the Skys Edge is a well written musical with beautiful lyrical songs which opened at The National Theatre last year to show stopping reviews and certainly deserves its west end transfer and spot on the West End.
Standing at the Skys Edge tells the stories of three families living in an estate in Sheffield, starting at three different points of the same timeline. The three storylines play out simultaneously with all the characters wrapping up seamlessly towards the end of the show. Whilst this device is frequently used in film, it is rarely successfully deployed in theatre. Chris Bush’s book is cleverly structured to give all the characters the equal opportunity to tell their story. Richard Hawley’s somber score helps to bring this story to life, giving all of the characters a moment to shine. The music doesn’t try to be memorable or catchy, but its power comes from beautiful layering of voices.
Young actors Alayna Anderson (Young Connie) and Eric Madgwick (Young Jimmy) both stood out during this performance for their excellent Sheffield accents and emotive acting that helped to start Connie and Jimmys Story.
Lauryn Reading gave the audience a stunning performance of Open Up Your Door and had excellent chemistry with Nikki’s love interest Poppy, played by Laura Pitt-Pulford. Laura took some good moments to connect with the audience, helping to build sympathy for Poppy.
Mel Lowe gave a stunning performance as Connie drawing the audience into Connie’s story, it was mesmerising to see her character grow and develop throughout. Mel’s performance of Don’t get Hung up in Your Soul was a mesmerising poignant moment of the play.
The set design by Ben Stones perfectly encapsulates the Park Hill Estate. The set is surrounded by concrete blocks that give the illusion that the set is larger than it looks. Mark Henderson’s lighting design works well to bring this set to life. The firework lighting was beautifully done, and the lighting design was powerful throughout the show.
The direction by Robert Haistie and Lynne Page’s choreography helps to take Standing at the Skys Edge to another level. The blocking of all the actors is very clever, particularly the opening scene where all 3 families are sat around the same table eating dinner. All of the levels of the theatre are used well, and the full space is utilised with appropriate audience moments. All of the musical numbers are beautifully choreographed with the Chorus moving around to help build the atmosphere for each scene.
Standing at the Skys Edge is an outstanding production that is fantastically bought to life with warmth and energy. The show is beautifully paced with all of the movement feeding into the storyline. The whole cast do a phenomenal job of connecting with the audience making the show exciting.
Booking until 3rd August 2024, https://lwtheatres.co.uk/theatres/gillian-lynne/
Reviewer: Jennifer Laishley
Reviewed: 1st March 2024
North West End UK Rating: