With over 50 Disney movie musicals to choose from, the task of creating a sing-a-long to suit the range of favourites that a Disney audience will like is pretty challenging. 

Billed as being an “interactive Disney concert for kids and adults alike”, I (a 40-something Disney fan singer/teacher) have with me a 12, 6 and 4 year old, so a good age range to experience this offering.

Kapitall Kids Theatre director Aaron Blackledge and musical director Lauren Simpkins have hit on a great concept to creatively weave about 25 songs/or parts of songs from the Disney movie musical catalogue. Using themes of friendship, respect and dreams with some movie villians thrown in, the 4 singers – Ellie Stewart, Hamish Boyle, Will Collin and Catherine Zulver – bring the songs to life with verve and obvious enjoyment, only a few pitchy moments and clarity of diction marring a couple of songs.

Given Mousing Around is a concert-style performance rather than a full staging of a specific show, the singers are not in character costumes, but through the vocals and creatively stylised choreography (by Natalie Wilson), the character of each song still shines through. A lot of thought has gone into matching up usually unconnected combinations of songs and threading them together to bring a new story to them.

There are some beautifully poignant solo moments – particularly Ellie Stewart singing  ‘Colours of the Wind’ with its message about respecting the earth – yet the songs that work the best are the group numbers which keep up the energy flow for this mixed aged audience. 

While the concept of this production is sound, the execution needs some tweaking.  More instruction and encouragement to help the audience join in with the sing-a-long parts (following the screen words as they appear) and more chances to move or join in physically in some way – like the body percussion in ‘Can’t Wait to be King’ which gives an extra shot of vitality – will enhance the shared experience.

Given each audience group is going to react differently depending on age range and, in this case, their Disney movie exposure and knowledge, this show is going to offer a different experience everyday and today the audience is certainly more animated with the songs from movies like Lion King and Moana. 

The on stage live band – musical director/arranger Lauren Simpkins (keyboard), Bernadette Stander (Electric Bass, Double Bass and Cello) and Luther Hunt (Drums and Percussion) – play with skill and sensitivity. The instrumentation combined with the beautiful arrangements offer another exciting dimension to this performance; in particular, the sympathetic drum playing and the luscious cello lines.

To ‘Mickey Mouse around’ is to ‘play or fool around, rather than engage in serious activities’, and there are certainly a lot of fun moments in this production with songs like Catherine Zulver’s performance of ‘Happy Little Working Song’ from Enchanted. ‘Never had a Friend like Me’ from Aladdin has huge panache and ‘I have a Dream’ from Tangled shows off these actors’ fun and frivolity. 

Having played the role of Lumiere herself, ‘Be our Guest’ from Beauty and the Beast is the 12 yr old’s favourite although she feels over all the show isn’t pitched to her age, but she specifically praises the excellent French accent by Will Collin. My 6 year old loves it all and my 4 year old loves anything Hamish Boyle performs (having made quite an impression on him as the Wind Wolf in last holidays KKT show) and anything sung by Will Collin, as they have the same name.

Mousing Around has a little bit of something for everyone so come along and see what resonates for you.

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