Luna Loves Library Day The Musical is a new show for young children which premiered at the Z-Arts centre in Manchester on Friday 20th October 2023, I was invited to review the show along with my two children aged 4 & 5.
The musical is recommended for children aged 3+ and is based on the book Luna Loves Library day by children's Laureate Joseph Coelho & Fiona Lumbers. The book has been adapted for the stage by Joseph Coelho and David Gibb with Gibb writing the music and lyrics. The musical has been co-produced by Little Seeds Music and Z-Arts and is directed by Dermot Daly.
The musical tells the story of a young girl called Luna (Yasmina Berraoui) who's parents have recently separated and she now has to try and adapt to her new life where her family live apart. Every week Luna looks forward to Library day, a day she not only gets to enjoy discovering new books and stories but a day she gets to spend with her Dad (Kane Matthews) making the day even more special. We Join Luna and her Dad as they return and check in their library books with the Librarian (Nicki Davy) before searching the library shelves for some new and exciting books, together they discover dinosaurs, bugs, magic and mystery. Whilst enjoying the library Luna's Dad asks Luna how she is feeling and we discover that she is feeling sad about her parents break up and wants to know why things can't go back to the way they were before. This results in her parents telling her the story of The Troll king & The Mermaid Queen which teaches Luna that even though her parents may no longer live together they still care for one another and their love for her will never change.
The set designed by Nomi Everall was simple but effective and just looked fun, my children loved the brightly coloured books which lined the library shelves and the giant books which were piled up on the floor. My son being a big dinosaur fan loved the Dinosaur curtains which covered the library shelves when we first entered the auditorium. A nice feature was when the library shelves turned into a light box so that shadow puppets could be used when Luna's parents were telling the story of The Troll king & The Mermaid Queen. I also enjoyed the fact that the Librarian's check-in desk also doubled up as the piano, I thought that was very cleverly done.
The musical numbers by David Gibb were fantastic, there are some great catchy numbers like the opening number "Library day" and "Magic Trick" as well as some beautiful ballads such as the song Luna sings when she is telling her dad how she feels about her parents separation.
The musical has a small cast of just 3 with Nicki Davy playing both Luna's mum and the Librarian as well as playing the piano, Kane Matthews plays Luna's dad and also plays the guitar. Luna is played by Yasmina Berraoui who gave a very convincing performance of a little girl with her body movements and facial expressions, she also has a beautiful voice which sounded wonderful in the musical numbers. I thought all three cast members were great and worked together beautifully to tell Luna's story
Luna Loves Library Day is an excellent Family musical, it is just 60 minutes long which is about the right length in order to keep young children engaged, it's a beautiful story with a lot of heart, it has some beautiful musical numbers and some fun interactive moments too. My children really enjoyed getting to help Luna and her dad count their books and check them in at the Library. We left the theatre feeling happy and uplifted and the first thig my children asked when we left the auditorium was "can we go to the library?" so it definitely got my kids excited about their next library trip.
Luna Loves Library Day is about to embark on a UK tour so you should definitely try and catch it at a venue near you.
Luna Loves Library Day The Musical is running at Z-Arts in Manchester until Sunday 22nd October 2023 you can purchase tickets by clicking on the button below.
If you would like more information about Luna Loves Library Day The Musical including where the show will be touring to you can find it by clicking on the button below.
Photo Credit - Darren Robinson Photography
*Our tickets for this show were kindly gifted in exchange for an honest review
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