During the 11th season of MMY Kimberly and Dave Holden are premiering the youth production of Webborn and Finn’s ‘The Clockmaker’s Daughter’, this highly successful musical has had sell out runs and has been nominated for eleven awards to date.
Kimberly fell in love with this musical several years ago after hearing her singing students sing ‘A Story of My Own’, her curiosity led her to explore the musical it belonged to, leading to a dream to bring this magnificent new musical to life on stage. After being granted the performing rights by Webborn and Finn through Keddie Scott North, Kimberly’s dream has become a reality and has enabled Manchester audiences to fall in love with this remarkable musical too.
Opening night was made spectacular by having Michael Webborn himself in the audience, I hope he was blown away by the talent and justice the whole cast gave to his musical, it was heartwarming to witness him joining in with a well-deserved standing ovation at the end of the show.
Webborn and Finn stated that their purpose when they first began writing ‘The Clockmaker’s Daughter’ that they wanted a new fairytale. They wanted all the trappings of the traditional form: the magic, the fantastical feel, the supernatural elements, the moral core and the simplicity that comes with the genre’s narrative. But that they wanted it to be new and had to be different, the theatre world craves new musicals and the thirst for new stories is more evident than ever. As a theatre critic I love the classics but there is something about a new musical that instils a fire of excitement. I purposely did not read any synopsis or information about this musical as I wanted to witness it without any preconceptions or plot information.
The story tells the tale of a heartbroken Clockmaker Abraham (Laurie Madden) whose wife died leaving him alone, as a master craftsman of timepieces, he creates a clockwork female for companionship named Constance (Ava Walsh). Determined to keep her locked up and hidden away from the outside world his journey of challenges begins. Constance is eager to learn of the outside world and soon evades his capture and ventures into the small rustic Irish village where she initially encounters, joy, acceptance and love. Along the way she encounters jealousy and hatred from the towns seamstress Ma Riley (Freya Gow) as Constance becomes an exquisite seamstress herself after accidentally destroying bride to be Amelia’s (Adali Strayer) expensive wedding dress and replacing it by her own magnificent creation which is far superior to Ma Riley’s. She soon wins the villages affections as she unselfishly creates splendid dresses for the female villagers and with numerous acts of kindness. Constance’s downfall begins when she falls in love with Ma Riley’s son Will (Finn Walker) when her creator exposes her for the mechanical being she is, this provides the ideal opportunity for Ma Riley to vilify her and cause a village revolt.
The essence of the story resonates similar to Frankenstein, Hunchback of Notre Dame, Beauty and The Beast and Phantom of The Opera where love prevails and where witch hunts cause the demise of beautiful misunderstood characters.
All leading roles were cast superbly, creating the most impressive display of vocals and acting skills amongst the young cast. Ava Walsh was awe-inspiring throughout with her glorious vocals and portrayal as Constance, I believe this is her last performance in MMY and I have been honoured to watch Ava perform in previous production as the leading lady and I have no doubt I will see her again on the professional circuit. Laurie Madden delivered a sterling performance as Abraham, again I have witnessed this young man grow over the years in MMY and I am always blown away by his maturity as an accomplished performer. Finn Walker is a new face to me in MMY, but I can imagine I will be seeing more of him after smashing his role as Will in this production, both his solos and harmonies were breathtaking throughout. Adali Strayer brought elegance, and the right amount of softness required to play Amelia complementing her role significantly throughout her depiction of Constance’s best friend, clearly an established actress within MMY she made the challenging vocals sound effortless which is a huge credit to her.
The whole cast gave their everything tonight, displaying the most wonderful harmonies throughout the evening, it’s always aesthetically pleasing to see the complete cast perform together in both song and dance. Huge credit goes to the choreographers Sarah Binns and Sarah Bartlett for their elegant and well-crafted dance routines for the 31 members in the cast during the show. The Creative and Technical Team have done a sterling job in creating a marvellous display visually and auditory throughout the musical, from the staging, sound, lighting, costumes and all complemented by the incredible 8-piece live orchestra under the direction of Kimberly Holden.
One of the things I love most about MMY is the fact that both Kimberly and Dave love what they do and how much they cherish and nurture their students. You will always see past and current members and their parents in the audience championing this fantastic theatre group.
I want each and every cast member to be proud of themselves for what they achieved tonight, I would love to mention each and everyone of you individually but that’s not possible, but be reassured that I noticed every single solo and I see potential in all of you, Jasper Holden I saw a huge leap in your vocals and stage presence tonight and I also saw your mum beam with pride – well done.
What I witnessed tonight was extraordinary superiority of any amateur production of youth theatre I have ever seen, considering this is a relatively new musical with unfamiliar songs the standard was unimaginable.
The run is a sell out which comes as no surprise as this is in Constance’s own dialogue a ‘Holy Clock’ of a production! If you didn’t get tickets, then be sure to grab some for MMY’s next production of ‘Fame’!
Well done to all involved and once again I am humbled and honoured to watch such talented youth on stage and to be able to provide my personal review of the performance.
Reviewer: Katie Leicester
Reviewed: 24th April 2025
North West End UK Rating: