Striking 12 - Union Theatre, (Declan Bennett, Bronte Barbe).

Oh i love Declan and Bronte! Great cast

And when The Stage, that most august of institutions, was writing a feature on seat prices at the National, where did it turn? Only @theatremonkey.

Thank you... you're the monkey that keeps on giving

I believe this was on at Waterloo East six or seven years ago, with Simon Bailey and Natasha J Barnes? If it's the same one, it's a nice little show, and I can remember good chunks of the score still.

Declan and Bronte are at the theatre cafe on Thursday ))

I realise one song a musical doth not make, but Last Day of the Year, just played by Elaine Paige, was very promising. She liked it, and so did I!

Wish I'd made a note of the time, but it was probably between 30 and 45 minutes in. Well worth a listen on iPlayer.

I’m here for the 1st preview, I’ll report back!!!

That’s a really enjoyable 70 minute actor/musicians pop & rock musical.

First preview observation is they need to lower the drum sound if possible as the opening big number gets drowned out which is a shame but as I say it was their first public preview. There was also a point I got worried with how many candles 🕯 were lit!

That’s lots to like with the score & yes the story here is simple & an inventive way to tell ‘The Little Match Girl’ & a characters journey on being reminded of the story but not every piece needs to be complex and it’s nice to have a heart fuzzy piece in the festive period!

The cast here are great with Bronte giving a beautiful sad ballad but it was so wonderful to finally see Declan in stage (up close & personal, so handsome). I love his voice and boy he can play the guitar!

I got to the theatre around 18.20 & relaxed with a beer, box office opened at 18.30 so I went got my ticket (which is a matchbox & they do it in zones but we all kind of bundled in so the fact I was in the ‘1’ section didn’t matter) & I chanced to nap a holy grail seat, 3rd row aisle & for some reason the seat that should be in front isn’t there so I had legroom!!

Enjoyable (actually wish it had gone on a little longer as the 70mins went in a breeze!!)

Saw this tonight - so charming, lovely piece, well worth a watch. Bronté Barbé in particular is fab (though admittedly does get the best songs too).

Agree about the drum sound, and I think that's just a problem with being relatively close to the band in a small space (though at least the drums and piano are at the back rather than at the side like it was at Children of Eden. Are the performers amplified? They had mics, but they didn't sound amplified. Declan in particular was quite drowned out on the louder numbers, while Bronté's voice came through a bit better.

Thought this was well done and quite sweet, with a strong cast - Declan and Bronte were particularly good. Where have I seen the guy with the man bun - Leon Scott - before? Don't recognise anything on his CV but he was really familiar!
Sound didn't seem too problematical, maybe it has been adjusted. Although some of the songs were a bit wordy and garbled so it was hard to carch all the lyrics.
Quite a bit of ambient noise from the bar outside though, which was distracting in the quiet bits.
Seating is all facing the "stage"; first set was let in around 20/25 past. Very front row is hard chairs, 2nd row and back are much more comfy. I think you'd be able to see from anywhere though, it' so compact. I loved the matchboxes!

A good afternoon out. Bronte Barbe hits the emotional bits, and sings beautifully.

They are still losing lyrics to the music volume . The pianist and the drums being the main offenders.

We saw the matinee today and really enjoyed it. Like another poster said it flys by all too quickly. Really strong cast, nice story line and a good array of songs. Nice to see the Union Theatre almost full. I would say sound issues are now sorted, at least when sat in the front row. Drums were heavily muffled and music did not over power the vocals. It was nice to have the voices miked. Is this a one off or how it will be going forward?