But British composer Benjamin Britten did that in the mid-1950s. He adapted for a mix of adult and child performers a 15th century play, Noye's Fludde, which was one of many plays put together in the walled English cathedral city Chester in that period to celebrate the Feast of Corpus Christi that was held before Easter to mark the Solemnity of the Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ.

Interestingly, today's Noye's Fludde (which is, in contemporary language, Noah's Flood) was originally composed for a television show and has a large children's chorus representing the animals who march into and out of the ark.

The stage version is usually presented in church venues. So it's not surprising that Newcastle Youth Orchestra is staging Noye's Fludde in two church-related venues in Lake Macquarie and Newcastle where it conducts classes, with the show having more than 110 performers, with 55 of them in its orchestra.

The first performance will be held in Avondale College Church, at Cooranbong, on Saturday, May 15, with the second at the Factory Theatre, in the grounds of St Pius X High School, in Park Avenue, Adamstown, on Saturday, May 29. The show, which runs for about 70 minutes, will begin at 7pm at both venues.

The adult performers will include Carl Caulfield, who will be unseen, but will be heard as the Voice of God, delivering instructions to Noye (Robert McDougall), Mrs Noye (Katherine Dries) and others. And the young acting and singing performers are students at Julie Logan Music, in Hamilton, and at Avondale Conservatorium.

The adult performers have been involved in many major shows. Carl Caulfield is a renowned actor, director and playwright, whose plays have been performed in many countries. Robert McDougall, now based in Sydney, has performed throughout Australia, Europe and America, and worked for 10 years with the popular Newcastle big band group Ultra Swing Lounge. He was recently seen in the Newcastle production of Chess: The Musical. And Kathryn Dries is renowned for what she did as the musical director of the Port Stephens musical group, Port Harmony, in the decade after it was founded in 2010.

Ghillian Sullivan is the musical's stage director, with Ian Cook as the orchestra conductor. Newcastle Youth Orchestra is an ensemble for 14-25 year olds.

The story begins with a congregational hymn, Lord Jesus, think on me, with the Voice of God then telling Noye of the forthcoming destruction of the sinful world and that he has to build an ark that will provide salvation for him and his family. Noye agrees, and calls on the people and his family to help. His sons and their wives enter with tools and materials and begin work, while Mrs Noye and her Gossips (close friends) mock the project.

When the ark is completed, Noye tries to persuade his wife to enter, but she refuses, and they quarrel. The Voice of God then foretells 40 days and 40 nights of rain, and instructs Noye to fill the ark with animals of every kind. The animals enter the ark in pairs, while Noye's sons and their wives provide a commentary. But when Noye orders his family to board the ark, Mrs Noye and the Gossips refuse, with interesting things subsequently happening and animals and birds getting involved in the action.

The musical has been praised for making the story and its classical figures very real. Tickets: Adult $25, Concession/Child $20, Family Ticket (2 Adults plus 2 x Concession/Child) $75. Visit events.humanitix.com/noye-s-fludde

THIS, like 2018's initial Mystery Musical, had watchers laughing loudly when the show's title was projected at the outset on a stage screen.

The musical, Monty Python's Spamalot, was adapted from the 1975 film Monty Python and the Holy Grail, and, like the screen version, is an irreverent parody of the legendary King Arthur story.

The actors and the staging team certainly made the characters bright and amusing, with the initial scene having a Historian (played by Luke Barker) revealing that it is set in medieval England, followed by the onstage choral group singing brightly about life in Finland and the irate Historian returning and telling them they are wrong.

That sequence sets the mood of the musical, with many serious comments getting an amusing response, and characters sending up others, and occasionally themselves.

Daniel Stoddart's King Arthur, for example, had other people telling him he was wrong when he sang I Am Alone, and there was a laugh-raising reference in one number to the way Broadway shows could attract people, with a reference that "There must be Jews" to get people to attend.

The actors all did a good job, with Rachelle Schmidt-Adnum's The Lady of the Lake moving into increasingly more colourful garb to attract Arthur, and most of the actors playing a mixture of roles in amusingly different ways.

Theo Rule, for example, was Arthur's unsmiling trusty servant, Patsy, the jolly Mayor of Finland, and a guard. The references to Camelot include words such as "We have to push the pram a lot."

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