From the first scene we were transported away from an English winter to a sunny beach with colourfully painted beach huts and there we met Alice and the Rabbit.

We were drawn into a different world of magic, colour and music.

A group of enthusiastic sunbathers entertained us with songs and dances and we met class one – the little dancers who only appear at the matinee performances.

My admiration for the way the production team took on the challenge and achieved such fantastic results is enormous.

From the first moments the dancing, singing, colour, music, lighting and scenery all combined to carry us along with Alice as she desperately tries to keep pace with the Rabbit, who, of course, is always in a hurry.

There was excellent characterisation from these two and all those they meet on their journey.

The Big Freeze section was performed by four groups of dancers and singers, each interpreting the story in a different style with shiny silver sparkling costumes adding to the wintry effects.

A very good duet The Unbirthday Song by the March Hare and the Mad Hatter led us into the tea party with the Dormouse.

Act two opened in the Queen’s garden in Wonderland with the caterpillar sequence followed by The Stray Cat Strut with the little ones involved in the street dance.

Special congratulations to Caterpillar and The Stray Cat, who both showed good characterisation as well as dance and voice ability.

The Queen showed how fierce and unpredictable she could be but was beautifully handled by the King.

‘Talent Show’ and ‘Light at the End of the Tunnel’ with some excellent dancing from Class 11 brought us to the end of the show.

We could see how much the young people progressed in their dancing, singing and acting, comparing that with the little ones performing on the big stage for the first time.

I must congratulate everyone involved. Everything went so smoothly.

Betty Fuller