Feelgood Academy – Stratford Circus

Feelgood Academy was performed at Stratford Circus, London

Feelgood Academy was performed at Stratford Circus, London.

A pushy stage mum guides her daughter towards a world of fame and success, but does her daughter really want to spend her life on the stage? Is she good enough? This is a familiar musical theatre theme which is played out in Feelgood Academy, a light-hearted musical (words and music by Penny Lane and Glenn Keiles) which drawa parallels with Fame and A Chorus Line but, ultimately, suffers from a predictable storyline and flat characters.

The action takes place in a performing arts school filled with musical theatre stock characters: the shy and retiring Amanda believes she isn’t destined for the stage; the strict, disciplinarian mother Mrs Feelgood lives her ambitions through her daughter; Lucy is a confident performer with a nasty streak, and we have a chorus of naive and cheerful students without a back story.

This leads to a lack of emotional engagement with the wide range of characters, particularly in the first half of the piece. Instead of concentrating on differentiating the personalities through dialogue, we are presented with persistent dance breaks, choreographed by Owen Smith (who also directs). These are performed enthusiastically by the cast, but do slow down the pace of the narrative and makes it difficult to distinguish the main plot.

However, the piece does improve during Act II, due to the focus on the production’s more controversial characters: the arrogant Lucy and the eccentric Bella Derrydown-Web. Steve Jones succeeds in writing one-liners which suit both characters. Lucy, brilliantly played by Jodi Steele, is given sharp, cruel dialogue as she portrays a performer fighting for her place on a reality show. She has good stage presence and performs her solos with energy and confidence, while standing out as the best technical dancer during the group pieces, particularly the ‘dream it, wish it, believe it’ piece.

Lynsey Simon is also a standout performer as Bella Berrydown-Web. Simon has great comic timing and is convincing as a neurotic, well-established theatre performer who makes sarcastic comments about the condition of the Feelgood Academy.

The Feelgood Academy showcases Lynsey Simon and Jodi Steele as strong performers. With a better focus on narrative and character, this could have been an engaging piece of new musical theatre.

Rebecca Gordon