Chopsy Baby is reviewing… Thomas & Friends™ Live! On Stage: A Circus Comes To Town – at the Bristol Hippodrome

Thomas & Friends™ Live! On Stage: A Circus Comes To Town, is a new 90 minute musical adventure set on the Island of Sodor.

A circus comes to Sodor and after Thomas makes mistake after mistake, all the engines must pull together to make sure the show goes ahead. Thomas must also work his way out of Sir Topham Hatt’s bad books to become ‘really useful’ again.

Whilst most parents in the auditorium with a train loving child must surely be sick of seeing the great big moon face of Thomas the Tank Engine, this magical performance was infectious with its audience excitement.

It was impossible not to feel the delight of preschoolers and become swept away in the moment, when Thomas puffs his way on stage.

Thomas, James, Gordon and Percy are the full size engines featuring in this musical show who actually do puff around the stage, whistle and blow steam from their funnels.

There was a story threading its way through the 90 minutes, probably lost on most children who were eagerly awaiting the next appearance from the engines.

Something about Thomas making mistakes and eventually learning from them, with lots of clowning around, is the maximum most of the young audience will have gleaned from the plot.

Of course, the circus show does go ahead and Thomas leads the parade after heroically saving Gordon from disaster in some so simple but effective puppetry.

There were new, simple songs and old favourites including the popular Accidents will Happen, featured in a scene when Thomas manages to devastate a farm yard.

The human cast performed with a warm energy and enthusiasm absent from most of the biggie West End tourers.

We liked popular with the children Cuffy the Clown, the cheerful and energetic News Girl and the smile from Thomas’ cab driver which had a life all of its own.

Essentially though, all that matters to the youngsters is the trains – Do they come up to scratch?

Yes they do. Even the adult element of the audience couldn’t fail to be impressed with the four faithfully reproduced ‘steamies’. The engines fully interacted in the show with moving eyes and talking mouths. 

“But why have they stopped and are not moving?” I am whispered to at one point by a perplexed child. “Well, that’s because they all have to stop and do a song and dance first,” I whisper back. The conventions of musical theatre with cast suddenly breaking into song and dance over a spoon dropping is a concept not impressing this new generation of theatre goers. Perhaps that’s because most of them here know a little too much about tenders, traction rods and turntables for their delicate years.

Our four-year-old reviewer said at the end: “Brilliant. I loved it. The clown was my favourite. And the trains, Thomas, Gordon, James and Percy. I want to see it again.”

At first glance, 90 minutes of Thomas and Friends Live! quite frankly sounds a little on the long side. But, A Circus Comes To Town is an impressive show, cleverly crafted to keep children and even adults entertained and importantly, the trains are fantastic.

The 2011 National Tour continues at:

New Theatre Oxford
Box Office 0844 847 1585
Saturday 19 March & Sunday 20 March

Milton Keynes Theatre
Box Office 0844 871 7652
Saturday 26 March & Sunday 27 March