SuperYou Musical by Lourds Lane follows the life-changing moments of comic book artist Katie. The
audience will encounter her complex relationships with family and friends and how she uses her
created superhero characters to combat various personal crises. This new musical welcomes a
variety of genres into the score, including rock, country, blues and soul. It is fantastic when a musical
shows a lot of ambition and diversity, but in this instance, the score caused a power surge where
there is too much going on, and the heroine’s story does not seamlessly connect.
Katie’s journey begins when she is at school. From the start, the audience is introduced to an
energetic young Katie, played by Aaliyah Monk. Aaliyah’s perception of the role was the highlight of
the production’s success, from her impressive vocal skills, rapping and passion for acting. She packed
a punch throughout the musical and showed endless enthusiasm. The audience will also be
impressed with the dream sequences of young Katie battling the malicious MiRoar, played by Will
Bozier. JoAnn M. Hunter beautifully directs the choreography of the battle and shares some daring
and engaging moments of contemporary dance between the two characters.
From the start of the production the heroine’s sidekicks (Seven, Blast, Rise and Ima-Mazing) guide
Katie to conquer her fears. Each of the characters’ personas provides colour to the musical. However,
the issue is that having four sidekick characters and a love interest leads to very little time to explore
their personas. This is one of the downfalls of the show, as the characters turn out to be one-
dimensional and are stereotypical in places. In terms of the performance, there are times of heart-
felt harmonies, but all in all the voices fail to blend and there are too many moments where their
voices are drowned out by musicians.
Jay is played by Luke Brady. Luke brings a lot of quirkiness to the role and shares many fun
harmonies with grown-up Katie played by Lucie Jones. In terms of technique, he shares the same
struggle as all the grown-up characters, which is conquering the one-too-many high notes in the
score. It will make the audience feel for the cast, as the demanding score almost sets the actors up
to screech for the notes.
It goes without saying that this musical needs amends. If a few elements were stripped away, it has
the potential to be a very special production indeed. On the other hand, it is a great ode to comic
book fans and has a variety of feel-good, toe-tapping songs. Despite a few snags on the way, it is an
enjoyable night out.
Review: Ramsey Baghdadi Photo: Matt Marlin and Simona Sermont