British Youth Music Theatre – Paper Stars

Picture: Craig Fuller

Paper Stars, performed by the British Youth Music Theatre, was reviewed at the Barnfield Theatre, Exeter.

Star rating: four stars ★ ★ ★ ★ ✩

How good it feels right now to be transported into an innocent world of imagination, far removed from the clamour of modern life, where a summer’s day in London probably still means rain.

British Youth Music Theatre’s staging of the new musical Paper Stars is a delicious mix of whimsy and wonder, joy and melancholy, with a message running softly through the production: that everyday magic is all around us, if only we remember to look for it.

Inspired by real events from the early life of Mary Poppins creator, Helen Lyndon Goff (better known by her pen name P.L. Travers), Australian writers Miranda Middleton, Grace Chapple and Luke Byrne have taken the essence of her story and filled in the gaps with joyful colour. It is 1924, and a young woman sets sail from Sydney Harbour bound for London, carrying dreams of becoming a great writer.

Lyndon’s arrival in London moves us from the backwater of early 1900s Australia to the loud, exciting streets of the ‘centre of the world’. Musically, the folk-infused sounds of her homeland give way to a style more akin to pop as the determined youngster jokes around easily with the cockney girls and boys she meets. In the central role, Darcy Renée Cassidy is brilliant, with a great voice and wonderful sense of comic timing – not to mention an energy that must have been hard to sustain in Exeter’s sweltering heat.

Hats off to choreographer Tinovimbanashe Sibanda who injects almost every scene with a vibrant yet tightly controlled whirl of dancing, swirling and jumping, despite the challenges posed by a cast of 38 and an abundance of props. Her talent is particularly evident in one of the production’s standout sequences.

At the Savoy, the fabulous Madge Burnand, played with relish by Olivia Kayes, reinvents Lyndon as Pamela, portrayed by the equally impressive Eloise Dyer. The scene positively fizzes with comedy, memorable tunes and a generous helping of English eccentricity, while also introducing the subtle frisson of attraction that develops between the two women.

The props that Sibanda and the cast navigate so deftly are an integral part of the show’s charm. Almost everything on stage is made from paper, or at least appears to be. Paper stars, birds, flowers, miniature houses and a striking re-creation of St Paul’s Cathedral combine to create a world that feels as though it has been folded from the pages of a storybook. At one point, paper birds are even dangled into the audience on rods. The effect is wonderfully whimsical and dreamlike, drawing us into a fairytale landscape. Yet there is fragility here too. Like Lyndon’s hopes and dreams, these delicate creations seem as though they could be blown away at any moment.

In an era when so many new musicals arrive as adaptations of familiar books or films, there is something particularly refreshing about watching a production built around a lesser-known chapter of a real person’s life. Organisations such as BYMT play a vital role in nurturing new work, and Paper Stars feels like exactly the kind of project that deserves to be seen.

The achievement of the young cast should not be underestimated. Working with demanding choreography, countless props and a brand-new score, they bring remarkable commitment and enthusiasm to every scene. Just as impressive is the work of the wider creative team, all members of which help transform the stage into Lyndon’s whimsical world.

Paper Stars is not quite the finished article. The Australian accents occasionally waver and, while the overall standard is impressively high, some performances are inevitably stronger than others. Yet these are minor quibbles in a production overflowing with imagination, warmth and heart. This delightful new musical is very nearly a five-star triumph.

Paper Stars is one of six BYMT productions in 2026.

Nicola Curtis