This isn’t a sponsored post.
BrumHour saw Zanna Don’t! at the invite of The Old Joint Stock.
For Brum Radio’s Interval Theatre, James Edge, Theatre Manager at The Old Join Stock spoke about bringing this production to Birmingham. Listen below:
Review: Zanna, Don’t! at The Old Joint Stock
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐An excellent production!
Directed by Scott Le Crass written by Tim Acito with additional music and lyrics by Alexander Dinelaris
Imagine a topsy-turvy world where being Gay is the majority and being Heterosexual is still ztaboo. The chess champion Mike played by Oliver White is the hero of his American High School, and his love interest Steve, played by Adam Makepeace, is the football captain that nobody understands. Meanwhile, Zanna (Jack Gittins), is just trying to do their best for everyone, as a magical fairy, who also attends the high school. But one day, a female student catches Steve’s eye…
This backdrop is fun and the premise plays out over two one-hour acts, fleshing out its world as it goes along. On the surface, it is a fluffy lighthearted parody of High School musicals like Grease and High School Musical in particular but it also tackles serious subjects such as mental health, and valuing ones self in our out of a relationship.
Jack Gittins stepped into the role of Zanna at very late notice, not that you would notice, they seem to know every lyric and movement of the character of Zanna, strutting around the theatre like it was their own. Lou Destanque is a total scene stealer every second of her stage time as Roberta, making trouble for girlfriend Kate, with a solid performance by Sam Brasenell. Sam’s performance of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell with the excellent Adam Makepeace would be a centrepiece of most other stories but there is a lot going on here elsewhere.
The audience loved the songs with the faster energy (particularly Fast!), but my personal favourite was I Could Write Books beautifully sung by Oliver White. I found myself relating heavily to some of the songs and their warm lyrical tones.
Meanwhile, Josephina Ortiz Lewis as Tank and Marcus Collick as Arvin bring their own crazy level of energy. Plus there is some bouncy leadership authority in the form of Candi played by the excellent Caprice Lane.
The sets are building blocks with large freeze backdrops to the side and hearts adorned across the set. Is this a Christmas production? It would fit into Valentine’s Day just as easily.
This is a warm, sometimes very silly, sometimes surprisingly serious production which asks questions not seen in other productions and well worth a look if you can get tickets. Zanna, Don’t is at The Old Joint Stock until 15th December 2024. Book tickets here: oldjointstock.co.uk/whats-on/zanna-dont.
