Barista
Barista The Musical
The Capital Theatre - Horsham
(Review Complete)
“A fantastic cup of coffee entertainment”
Review
Brilliant Colombian rhythms and passionate, life changing events! What a cracking new musical from Nigel and Anna Newman! It was a real pleasure to see Barista last night at Horsham and its pretty rare to be in on the ground of a new musical with so much potential!
It is the story of Isabella Sanchez, a Colombian girl who comes to the UK to go to University and falls in love with Andy Scott who runs the coffee shop she works in. But she has a violent and dangerous past that Andy has to deal with before he can finally be with her forever.
The cast is led by Sara Bartos as Isabella. She has a wonderful voice and her powerful playing of the family tragedy back in Columbia is exceptional! George Crawford brings humour, understanding and great vocals to coffee shop owner Andy. The part of Luis, Isabella’s brother back in Columbia, is brilliantly played by Daniel Lobo. He saw his father murdered and was blackmailed into working for the perpetrator. A really powerfully dramatic performance. Luis’ father’s murderer, Matias, a criminal coffee grower, is played by Jay Faisca. His performance is truly threatening and unpleasant thoughout the show!
A real tour de force! The lighter side of the story is provided by Sue who frequents the coffee shop and is played by Colleen Daley. Great comic timing and her cheerful cockney persona works really well as a foil for the more dramatic sections of the show. The ensemble are excellent with some fantastic choreography from Pasha Kovalev of Strictly Come Dancing fame.
Their singing too is excellent under the baton of musical director and arranger Patrick Rufey. Director Sarah Redmond handles the story with great sensitivity, bringing it vibrantly to life. The show runs in Horsham until the 21st September and I’m sure there will be a few more edits, as you would expect with any new show, but if last night is anything to go by, we will be seeing much more of Barista in the future!
Reviewers: Julia Rufey
We are Gifted tickets so that in return we may give an honest review. All comments are those of the reviewer and theirs alone.