Mario in Pantomine! The excellent Mario: A Super Musical takes the Mario soundtrack through the era and applies a plot and lyrics. Except for a small problem with scene changes and unfortunate language for the audience it was well worth seeing, and I’d love to see it again.
The signing was brilliant, with every voice being surprisingly powerful. This meant that their harmonies worked well, and was empty of any discordant sound. Although putting lyrics to songs that were definitely not designed for was clearly difficult at some points, they managed very successfully. It’s a shame that the cast didn’t have mics however, as it meant that some of the voices were drained out by others (but this didn’t cause that many problems.)
The scenes were decorated with lovely hand painted flowers, question-boxes and in one instance a Pokémon Clinic. There was some problem with the scene changes however, as it was obvious that the dressing down of the set took too long (many elements having to be changed per scene). This meant that the short music that was playing in between scenes repeated many times (including a point where a bit of scary music played twelve times). I’m sure that with a bit more adaptable scenery however they can sort this issue.
As each character was meant to be from the Nintendo universe, there was some interesting costumes. Bowser’s and Falco Lombardi’s costumes were my particular favourite, as they managed to represent the character and make it obvious without losing the spirit of the character itself. I felt sorry for Falco however, as it was clear his facepaint was slowly melting throughout the night leading to a patchy look around half-way through.
The biggest issue for me wasn’t exactly the writer’s or the casts fault, but it needs to be mentioned. The show included swearing and quite raunchy jokes, so it was quite uncomfortable being that there were kids in the audience. It wasn’t warned about on the website that is may not be suitable for a younger viewer, and I can see some adults being annoyed about not knowing that this would be involved. I believe that some of the kids watching were going for a particular member of the cast, so it is understandable however, and the swearing definitely didn’t put me or the rest of the audience off!
In conclusion then, it was totally worth the watch, and if it ever comes back to Nottingham, or goes on the tour they mentioned in the previous interview I’d advise anyone who has a passing interest in Nintendo games (or any games in general) to go watch Mario: A Super Musical!
Tim Spencer
Follow Impact Magazine on Facebook and Twitter
