THE audience rose to its feet to greet the cast of Whistle Down The Wind with a triumphant standing ovation. To see secondary school students performing at this level was indeed both moving and inspiring.

The musical is a reworking of the classic 1961 film starring Hayley Mills and Alan Bates in which a young girl finds ‘Jesus’ in a barn. She introduces him to all the local children and they try to protect him from the adults who are searching for an escaped convict. Lloyd Webber re-locates the action to rural Bible-Belt Louisiana.

Director Steve Eaton Evans and MD Scott Morrison have set the bar high. Lloyd Webber is not easy at the best of times. This piece is one of his most challenging.

Time signatures are constantly changing, hard rock gives way to ballad which in turn gives way to country and western.

Lyricist Jim Steinman wrote most of Meatloaf’s great songs so we are treated to the occasional driving, rock classic sound too! But somehow this amazing cast rise to the challenge and pull it off in great style.

Rebecca Brown is outstanding as 16-year-old Swallow who finds ‘Jesus’ in her dad’s barn. Her acting was natural and perfectly understated and when she launched into the signature tune I was smitten. What a voice! A big future beckons.

James McKendry plays ‘The Man’ (Jesus?) with just the right balance of light and shade for us to understand why the children believe he might be the Messiah.

He copes brilliantly with the difficult score and is at his best when he duets with Rebecca in ‘Try Not To Be Afraid’.

The James Dean inspired character Amos is played with great energy by Laszlo Corti and his duet ‘Tyre Tracks’ with the lovely Candy (a silky voiced Seemo Osomo) gives us the Meatloaf power we’ve been waiting for.

Swallow’s family are perfectly played and give the right level of pathos without becoming cheesy. Libby Catchpole and Daniella Smith are the two younger sisters and newcomer Tom Hopwood is a very professionally played ‘Poor Baby’; their little brother.

They are at their best when singing harmony in Poor Baby’s song ‘I Never Get What I Pray For’. Their father Boone is played by the convincing Barney Harrison who carries the title tune with great sensitivity.

The teamwork is outstanding with stage manager Hobz de Caux at the helm. Scene changes seemed to happen seamlessly in half light and the set had some ingenious permutations. The lighting is really spectacular and all the stops are pulled out on the big rock numbers.

The 15-piece band makes a wonderfully balanced sound which perfectly underpins the dialogue and the array of great songs. Choreographer Jo Elliot has worked the adult chorus hard with complex and technically difficult dance routines which they pull off with excellent panache!

I didn’t count the cast but there seem to be hundreds of them, all perfectly marshalled.

The children’s chorus is superbly drilled and really very convincing. There are even some cute little tiny tots who seem to be as engaged as the rest of the cast.

There’s a lovely set-piece at the end of the first act which features all the children and the adult chorus singing the chart topper ‘No Matter What’. This was only one of the many highlights in a show packed with energy and excellence.

By Stephen Foster