This new version of the old story by Carlo Collodi cintinues The Watermill's tradition of productions with small teams of actor musicians - something that works particularly well with children's shows.
The originjal stories were very episodic so selecting a few to put together into a show works well - I was never that keen on the Disney film and I'm glad that no attempt has been made to follow that path here. What we do have is a small selection of takes in which the Fox and the Cat try to trick Pinocchio and end up making an ass of him (a really lovely scene) ...
Whilst the songs aren't hum-along memorable they are appropriate to the show and the audience and were just right. The set was extremely flexible and effective, particularly the backdrop. I particularly enjoyed Jack Blumenau as Pinocchio and Morgan Philpott's Cat.
Kids were up and dancing, there was enough for the adults to be interested and the production fairly bowled along - what's not to like!