It was an opening night with a high-pitched buzz, the theatre awash with pink as hundreds of excited little girls waited to meet Tracy Beaker, their smart-mouthed, unruly-haired heroine and the creation of Jacqueline Wilson, the Childrens’ Laureate. The tough, clever, journal-writing pre-teen struggling with growing pains and family breakdown in a care home made her debut in Wilson’s 1991 novel The Story of Tracy Beaker.
She has since appeared in the hugely successful BBC TV series and on radio. Now, in Mary Morris’s new musical play, Tracy hits the stage on an extensive British tour. Theatres nationwide should prepare for an onslaught of fervent fans.
Such breathlessly high expectations are not easily met, but David Newman’s production comes pretty close. Paul Wills, the designer, wisely draws on the much-loved, cartoonish images of Wilson’s long-time illustrator Nick Sharratt.
From the moment Sarah Churm’s Tracy first emerges, screaming with rage from a wheelie bin, with her familiar bright red top and wild, wiry curls, she’s a hit. In sparky, short scenes and Grant Olding’s bouncy songs, we watch Tracy struggle with insecurity, anger and hurt as she longs for the perfect foster parents, weaves Hollywood fantasies around her absent mother and conceals her unhappiness beneath a volatility that the jargon-addicted social worker, Elaine the Pain, labels “behavioural difficulties”.
Overall, Newman and Morris manage Wilson’s bittersweet balance well, leavening poignancy with humour and realism with musical escapism. Occasionally, though, the tone becomes faintly pedagogic, with bald emotional truisms invoked about the pitfalls of parent- hood and the importance of honesty.
Advertisement
Morris’s song lyrics sometimes verge on the sentimental, and one or two numbers seem redundant — notably Elaine the Pain’s mock-operetta aria, and a country and western ditty sung by Tracy’s flaky mum (Jessica Martin). But the cast are hugely winning.
Churm’s Tracy is sassy and touching, and Suzie McGrath is all belligerent vulnerability as Justine Littlewood, Tracy’s arch-enemy and rival for the affections of her best friend.
Alice Redmond, as the visiting writer who forms a bond with the imaginative Tracy, brings as much unaffected warmth to the role as there is in her gorgeous singing voice. Now and then the fidgets set in; but the show’s charm, wit and feelgood fun will leave even the most bolshie Beaker enthusiast smiling.
Box office 0115-941 9419 to September 9, then touring