In the days where the JukeBox musicals and revivals tends to rule, it's always refreshing to hear of a brand new musical. Don't get me wrong, they are not always good, but I'd rather have new material landing on my doormat for review, than rehashes anytime.

So, I was very excited when The In-Betweens, a new musical by Laura Tisdall arrived, and sorry that holidays and the like have got in the way of me reviewing it until now. Tisdall is a relative newcomer to the musical theatre world. She has written the music for the Hugh Wooldridge/Bill Kenwright UK tour of The Haunting, starring Paul Nicholas, and her first musical, Faerytale, was showcased by Guildford School of Acting at the Electric Theatre. The In-Between is Laura's second musical, and it's certainly a valid credit on her CV.

The story is different - Nineteen-year-old misfit and perpetual underachiever, Flick Wimple, has always lived in the shadow of her caring but neurotic elder sister, Alice. Since their parents died in a car crash, Alice has had to become more of a mother to Flick - a responsibility that traps them both and heightens their love-hate relationship. Resigned to the way things are, Flick determines to expect nothing exceptional from life and give little in return. She is forced to re-evaluate, however, when one day she steps through the wrong doorway and finds herself trapped in the space between parallel worlds; the place known as the In-Between.

This is very much a 'taster' concept album - 7 tracks filling under 30 minutes of listening time. But it's time well-spent, with some of the UK's brightest musical theatre talent delivering Tisdall's songs with drive and passion. Daniel Boys and Lauren Samuel (two of the real finds from the various TV Talent shows) are excellent, as are Wicked stars Dianne Pilkington and Alexia Khadime. But yet again, the star performance of the recording is Julie Atherton, currently on tour in the UK with Sister Act, who shines with her number 'When I Was Nineteen'. It's worth getting the album for this performance alone.

Music wise, the songs are catchy, with a definite pop / indie feel to them, and are individual whilst still maintaining the style of the overall piece. The album sounds well, but it would have been nice to have a band backing the numbers, rather than obviously synthesised sounds, which at time lack reality. The production on the album is also wanting in several areas, and has a home-recorded sound to it at times, especially with the instrumental tracks. The vocal production however is excellent. It's hard to pick a favourite song as they are all unique, but I did listen to the opening song 'She's My Sister' on several occasions (great lyrics) and there's no doubting the quality of writing in 'Someone You'd Be Proud of'.

In fact, there's no doubting the quality of writing on this album at all - Tisdall is certainly one to watch, and listen to, in future.

8

Ian Gude