STAGING a full scale musical is always a risk and always a challenge, factors which are multiplied exponentially when you choose Stephen Sondheim’s darkly rich fantasy 'Into the Woods’ as the vehicle to move from concert performances to a fully staged production.,

It was a challenge which Cait Davies and her team at Forget Me Not Productions grabbed firmly by the throat and gave a damn good shake when the show opened at the Borough Theatre in Abergavenny last week - with the end result, a solidly produced, well sung and well acted piece of musical theatre.

With a cast of vastly experienced performers - many of whom have made their way through the amateur theatre ranks and onto drama school before returning to local companies - the quality of performance was never going to be in doubt and FMNP more than delivered in this area with some fine solo and ensemble singing.

From the opening number to the rousing finale, the cast pulled every shred of emotion from Sondheim’s glorious score with some great vocal performances from Emma -Jayne Morris as the Witch, Cait Davies as the Baker’s Wife, Emily John as Cinderella and Molly Brickley Clark as Little Red Riding Hood with great support from the rest of the cast.

This was an ultimately enjoyable production which did absolutely nothing wrong, but which equally flailed to quite make the leap into the ‘unforgettable’ category. Possibly it was slightly too measured to be truly spontaneous and too tentative to show that extra spark of something magical which sometimes appears on stage. In interval ice cream terms - I went looking for tutti-frutti but came away with vanilla - albeit a top notch one in a very fancy tub.

In a short time Forget Me Not Productions has made its mark at the Borough and I look forward to seeing the company go from strength to strength.