As a pit musician in community theatre musicals, I would often get frustrated at reviews where the mention of an orchestra (if there was one) was about it. “There was a band. They played well” would often be the biggest mention in the reviews. And I felt that it does a disservice to the many hours of hard work that musicians do in preparation and presentation of a musical. And so I joked to some friends that I would start reviewing musicals – except I would only write about the musicians, adding at the end of each review “There was a cast. They performed well.”
And so I made the resolution in 2026 to attend as many musicals as I could, reviewing their musicians. And so I dutifully bought tickets to attend Playlovers’ performance of Once Upon a One More Time at the Tricycle Theatre at Mt Lawley Senior High School, fully intending to review the musicians. Except there aren’t any.
This production by Playlovers is the Western Australian premiere of this fairy tale story with a twist, utilising the songs of the pop princess herself, Britney Spears. It is also Playlovers’ Youth production, with all actors being between the ages of 12 and 18 – and a number of backstage crew within that age bracket as well. This is worth mentioning, as while many youth productions involve altered versions of the show – e.g Matilda Jr., Into the Woods Jr (where the second act is completely scrapped), and even (strangely) 13 the Musical Jr which was written as a whole musical to be performed by teenagers – this isn’t an altered version and instead presents the full production. For those unaware, many Jr versions of shows are not available to be performed with bands – the parts just aren’t written for the instruments, and therefore have to be performed with backing tracks. For this production, even though it was the full production, the choice was made to perform this with backing tracks.
Now this can be done for any number of reasons. Often it is due to size and placement of the orchestra – and I feel this was partly the reason here. While the Tricycle Theatre is a fantastic space, with the minimal, somewhat industrial set (designed by Wayne Herring) working wonders for creating the spaces and entries needed whilst still giving the cast room for the energetic choreography by Keeley Roper, it still utilised most of the stage area (and even some of the balcony area), to the point where it felt that at times the cast were in the laps of the audience. Some parts of the acting which was set towards the front of the stage, but on the floor, were impossible for me to see due to the audience blocking it.
And so what? They didn’t have room for an orchestra, so they didn’t use one. That’s why backing tracks are there. Heck, I did it myself for Garrick Theatre’s production of Sweeney Todd. However, the question should still be posed – considering it is the Western Australian premiere, and that it is the full production, did this show not deserve the quality that comes with real musicians? And if so, was this the right venue?
And so I initially wasn’t going to write a review of the music, because there wasn’t musicians. But a musical is more than just the musicians, and this young cast impressed me with their musical performances.
Led by a core ensemble of princesses, Cinderella (Anneka McLennan), Snow White (Bronte McLennan), Sleeping Beauty (Ellie Prosser), Princess and the Pea (Lilah Stivaletta), Rapunzel (Juliette Andrews) and Little Mermaid (Charis Rellegue) all gave strong vocal performances. Each of their solos gave them opportunities to shine and demonstrate their vocal prowess. Well, apart from Little Mermaid, who had given up her voice for her legs – however the incorporation of Auslan into her character and choreography was an inspired and welcoming inclusion.
The male leads, Prince Charming (Saul Kavalsky) and Narrator (Daniel Nievelstein) also presented strong performances. Saul, in his bio, apologised for being an actor first and singer second – however he was impressive in most of his solo sections. Nievelstein, for his role, performs admirably. His acting and puppet-pulling gestures pull into the dark side of the character, and his role in Toxic would have garnered more words if it were not for being completely overshadowed by the stepmother (Paige Heglund), who highlighted her incredibly powerful voice.
The large ensemble, comprising many various roles, had alternating stronger and weaker performances. When they were singing strong and loud, we could hear the quality of their voices. However, there were times when they were singing quieter – perhaps for balance – and the quality and tone of their singing immediately dropped. As a young cast, this is to be expected somewhat, and something they can be encouraged to work on.
The most impressive part for me was the harmony work from the whole cast. Harmony singing can be incredibly difficult, particularly for young singers. However the cast, led by Musical Director Sue McLennan and assisted by Daniel Nievelstein, performed these adeptly, with no noticable notes out of place. I was particularly impressed with the wide harmonies in the finale. Director Alex McLennan highlighted Nievelstein for his role in teaching the cast the music and that ought to be re-highlighted here – he has done amazingly well.
And so that brings me back to the musicians – or lack there of. The backing track was fine, for what it was. There were some sounds that were particularly electronic sounding, however it wasn’t overly distracting from the narrative of the story. There were times where it balanced nicely with the voices – but there were other times where the dialog, and the words of the lyrics, were lost. A common issue with backing tracks is the timing – making sure you come in correctly, at the right time, is easier when there is a conductor to catch you. For the most part, it seemed like this backing track was well designed, as I only noticed one note that seemed to be held on to wait for the backing track.
A couple of microphone issues were present on the night I attended – some noticeable heavy breathing, and some distortion clipping on louder lines. Utilising the sound desk for a show can be a very tricky job, and despite these issues, sound operator Sienna Kelly performed commendably, and I am sure that as the show gets further into the run these issues will resolve themselves.
Overall, this show was great. I went in expecting a hodgepodge jukebox musical about fairy tales, and instead got a very strongly coded (and still timely and appropriate) commentary on world affairs, gender roles, and inviting the audience to write their own story and not be shaped by others. This young cast performed incredibly well, with many names that will be worth keeping an eye out for the future. I just wish there had been a band.
There was no band. But there was a cast. They performed well.
Once Upon A One More Time is running until January 24 at the Tricycle Theatre at Mt Lawley SHS. Tickets available through Taz Tix or directly here.
Ben Clapton 