Review: THE KARATE KID THE MUSICAL, Theatre Royal
The Karate Kid The Musical is at the Theatre Royal until 4 July
The Karate Kid The Musical is a new musical with book by Robert Mark Kamen and music and lyrics by Drew Gasparini and based on the 1984 motion picture.
Daniel Larusso is the new kid in town, and he gets off on the wrong foot with Johnny Lawrence (Joe Simmons), who studies karate at the local dojo, Cobra Kai. Larusso gets attacked by Lawrence and his friends and is rescued by the quiet elderly maintenance man in his building, Mr Miyagi (Adrian Pang).
It transpires that Mr Miyagi is a karate expert, and he offers to train Daniel so that he can challenge Johnny in a karate championship in just two months' time.
At this particular performance, we started with Gino Ochello as Daniel Larusso, but partway through Act One, we had a short show stop, and the role was seamlessly taken over by Isaac J Lewis and both were brilliant in the role. Adrian Pang excels as Mr Miyagi, a man who doesn’t speak often but, when he does, it has great impact. His deadpan delivery brings some of the best comedic moments in the production.
The songs are fairly forgettable but there are some good ensemble numbers that work really well. Keona and Mari Madrid’s choreography is slick and Kev McCurdy’s fight direction is a real highlight of the whole show. The fight scenes are so realistic and bring so much tension.
The Karate Kid will appeal to both newcomers to the story and fans of the original film. It’s high quality storytelling with strong performances and a real feel-good factor.
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