I will come clean and say I am a big Neil Hannon fan, and so was rather excited when I heard Swallows and Amazons would open at the Old Vic (also a big fan of BOV!), as he has picked the story, and writtenj the music for it.
It was opening night last night so dh, dd (11 years old) and I went.
It was beautiful! The children's characters, played by fully grown adults, are excellent (Roger and the Amazons v funny in particular, but all are really good), the musicians are very much part of the play, on stage with the actors, and play minor parts as well or operate the very clever props.
The story is well written (apart from a couple of minor things, but hey), the direction is clever and imaginative, and Neil's music is great. Mostly violin, cello, double bass, piano and guitar. Some funny, moving songs.
We all loved it, it felt like it was well received, there were several families there as well as couples on their own, very much all ages represented.
Cannot wait to go back at the end of the month, I'm sure it will have evolved a bit but frankly, it's already a beautiful, funny, charming musical.
Cannot recommend it enough, please go and see it! 