THEATRE REVIEW
Disney’s Mulan Jr
Young People’s Theatre, Young People’s Theatre, Hamilton (ypt.org.au; 4961 4895)
Ends May 21
THIS is a bright and colourful telling of a classic story of a teenage girl in ancient China who defied the limitations placed on women by disguising herself as a man and becoming a soldier to prevent her elderly father from being draughted into the army.
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The large young cast handle the fast-moving narrative well, with the songs often demanding brisk movements, as in I’ll Make a Man Out of You, which has an army leader, Captain Shang, training recruits.
The title character initially questions her abilities, with Melody Davies making her a poignant figure in the cast I saw as she looked into a water pool singing the questioning Reflection (Kaylia Roberson and Martha Reece also play the role). As the story develops, Mulan does indeed show her abilities, leading a team of soldiers who rescue the Emperor who has been captured by invading Huns.
The staging gives vibrancy to classic Chinese characters such as a quintet of Mulan’s ancestors who voice from a heavenly setting observations on the events below. And there is a good mix of comedy and reality in the amusing action of a dragon, Mushu (Ashley Davidson; Alexandra Ryba), the ancestors send to look after Mulan.
The actors playing the human characters also reveal their feelings in a light-hearted but understandable way, with Mulan’s father, Fa Zhou (Sam McIntosh, Stefano De Dona), told not to be worried when his daughter meets a matchmaker, saying, with gritted teeth, “I’m not worried – I’m terrified”.
Likewise, the uncompromising Captain Shang (Paul Battaglia, Thomas Traynor) reveals a marked change of feelings when he accidentally discovers that Mulan is a female.
The staging by a large team headed by directors Michelle Burnitt, Amy Hill and Chloe McLean ensures that the show is always eye-catching, with the different designs and colours of the costumes bringing out the status of the various groups and the events including a spectacular avalanche at a key moment in the story. And the changing nature of the songs in reprises, such as A Girl Worth Fighting For, initially delivered as the Chinese soldiers think of the girls in a mountain village, is often moving.
