On Tuesday night Esther, Bea and I headed to Canterbury
To see the musical production of
Fantastically Great Women Who Changed The World
We are huge fans of Kate Pankhurst’s books
And we were so excited to see some of our heroines
Brought to life on stage
The show exceeded my expectations in every way
Every individual performance was stunning
Together the all female cast of performers and musicians
Showed true girl power
Everytime I looked at Bea and Esther beside me
They were totally engaged in the show
Beaming, laughing, nodding along to wise words
And emotional sentiments
Singing along to the wonderful repertoire of funky pop songs
This was a high energy show
With awesome dance routines
Striking stage design
And lots of opportunities for children and their grown ups
To stand up and join in
We LOVED the megamix of the show songs in the finale
We left the theatre feeling inspired and ready to
Take up space and make a difference to the world we love
Bea, age 8, has not stopped wearing her Deeds Not Words badge
As a strong willed girl and a budding stage performer
She has really taken the positive messages of the show to heart
She wants to find her voice
Stand up for the things she knows to be right
And break the rules to make a difference!!
The show begins with teachers rounding up children on a museum trip
For any parent or teacher the lyrics are all too familiar
As the grown ups long for quiet children in their care
As the teachers leave the stage we meet Jade
A quiet girl struggling to feel seen in a busy world
Struggling to make herself heard by her parents
Who are getting divorced
Through the show Jade grows in confidence
She learns about herself
And how she can take up more space in her world
Make herself seen and heard
And use her strengths to do some good in the world
While waiting for her teachers to find her
Jade explores a closed exhibition in the museum
Where she meets Amelia Earheart, Gertrude Ederie and Sacagawea
These fantastically great women share their stories
And start Jade on a journey of self discovery
As they tell her to just be herself
To make her own mark on the world
To work out what she wants to do
And where she wants to go
It was Emmeline Pankhurst
That stole this first part of the show for me
And for my girls
Her brilliant brave fierce attitude
Her motto of Deeds Not Words
And an incredibly catchy song
That the audience were encouraged to join in with
Emmeline Pankhurst was true to her character
And she also showed that women’s rights are still an issue today
Citing the fact that there are so few women in government, in parliament
And how women’s rights are being taken away from them in America
She was rightfully applauded and cheered by the mostly female audience
And it made me cry when I thought about the weight of her words
And the sorry state our world seems to be in right now
This show was performed with passion and true girl power
There was a great balance of humour and inspiration
This show stayed true to Kate Pankhurst’s books
Empowering young girls today
Through the inspirational stories of girls from yesterday
The vocal performances were stunning and the dancing was perfect
We were absolutely hooked from beginning to end
We adored Jade Kennedy’s Frida Kahlo
She was fierce, fiery and fearless
She dealt with the technical difficulties with grace and poise
And a large dollop of good humour
A World Of Colour was our favourite song
Striking staging and wonderful use of colour
The Stomp inspired drum section was awesome
Something to definitely try at home!
Every character was brilliantly portrayed
Jane Austen was delightfully funny and full or warmth
Mary, Mary and Marie was brilliantly done
We just loved everything about the show
And left the theatre buzzing
Rosa Parks was powerfully and poignantly played
By Renee Lamb
She made me cry when she talked to Jade
About not all stories having happy endings
And not all endings being the end
The lullaby with Anne Frank was beautifully done
Thinking what Rosa might have said to Anne had they met
Was a little bit of theatre magic
This is a must see show for mothers and daughters
And I hope too that fathers and sons will see the show
The musical where cast, crew, creatives
And the author illustrator of the books
All prove to us all
That women truly are
Fantastically Great
We were given three tickets to see the show in exchange for an honest review