The musical Half a Sixpence first came to the stage in 1963 and its romantic story of rags to riches to rags and back to riches of Arthur Kipps became a hit for Tommy Steele on film and on stage. It's rather dated feel of class attitudes and female roles was updated in 2016 by Julian Fellows with new songs by Stiles and Drewe and it is this version that the delightful covered but open-air setting of Kilworth Theatre in Leicestershire is staging this season until 28th August. Very well staged and wonderfully choreographed this is a lively and enjoyable evening entertainment with a marvellous cast who fill the spacious stage with brilliant routines.
Although Dominic Sibanda may not have the cheeky chappie sparkle of Tommy Steele’s original Kipps, he does bring a more nuanced performance of a young man out of his depth in a new world and as he sings in one of the new songs “In the middle there’s me”. He starts uncertainly without Steele’s bravado, but we can see his love for Ann (Laura Baldwin) and his nativity in dealing with James Walsingham (Tom Pepper) who we can all see is on the make! He moves elegantly and is at his best leading the big original numbers such as in the charming “Half a Sixpence”, the delightful “If the Rains got to fall” that closes Act 1 and the barnstorming “Flash Band Wallop” which closes the show.
