“Students loved it! Was very ‘accessible’ to all, and they got the ‘message’. These children get very little opportunity to see live performances – having one come to school that is so professional and provides the whole experience is invaluable” – Keir Jasper, Findon PS
“Excellent – something for all age levels including adults. Related to our “You can Do It” program. Overwhelmingly positive response from everyone. Children were enthralled for the entire time. Song choices were excellent and quality of voices also excellent. Popular and current.” – Jo Jolley, Burbank PS
“Very positive and enthusiastic response. Warm cast interaction with students. Good use of current hit songs – well integrated into storyline.” – Lindsay Paterson, Westgrove PS
“Very professional – great audience participation. Sensational, hilarious and moving. Strong message in a digestable format. Brilliant. All age groups were enthralled (Almost have as much fun as the staff!). Alpha is such a reliable experience! The school gets so much out of each performance.” – Chris Kilmartin, Lalor West PS
“Great singing, dance steps, especially Phil! Very professionial. Completed by Gr 5 + 6 students at Toora PS. All voted for points scored (10 out of 10 for everything). Thoroughly enjoyed this performance and look forward to Aladdin in 2008.” – Kerry Corcoran, Toora PS
“Good message. Fantastic as per usual! Keep up the high standard! They thoroughly enjoyed it all! Great set and props, children could identify with modern day songs, good moral to the story” – Jo Blake, Foster PS
“Fantastic performers – wonderful voices! Great job of simplifying a complicated story! First rate. P-2 really excited, all P-6 totally engaged. Overall theatrical experience, lights sound song dance, sword fights, giving students a chance to see live theatre…” – Sue De Silva, Mirboo North PS
“Very professionial, well organised. Didn’t like the American accent, just stuck a slightly false note for me [Ben: yeah well we felt it time to use an American accent, we use accents from all over the world, we thought it was about time to stop being discriminatory towards those silly Americans!]. Spot on in terms of values education. Exactly what we’re teaching in terms of values. Always excellent, never disappoints. All really positive, from all year levels. Love the positive messages, costumes, themes. Great singing, obviously professional singers. I think the traditional ‘fairytale’ stories are better for primary school kids – more accessible plots.” – Debbie Coffey, Osborne PS
“Fantastic, terrific, great, excellent! Able to build on resilience etc into curriculum. Very enjoyable and highly entertaining.” – Maria Camillo, Holy Name School
“Excellent, excited, totally involved from P-6. Professional performance, great opportunity for our students to be exposed to a live performance” – Sheryl Somerville, Quarry Hill PS
“Fabulous. Connection to lifeskills – resilience etc, fits in with the “You can do it” program being introduced at our school. Kid so involved, singing along, interacting, excitement built pre-show – KIDS LOVE ALPHA!” – Marg Parry, Heathcote PS
“Loved it as always. It was cool, fun, exciting. You don’t have to be strong to be a hero. Great fun – participation. Fabulous values.” – Pam Davis, Tongala PS
“Each actor brough their character to life. I enjoy the ‘adult humour’ and as all teachers do. Resilience, confidence etc – brilliant values. Every single child was captivated, spell bound and entertained. Brilliant. It was awesome and it relates to all of the children. The music and songs were fantastic! Children’s active involvement is great!” – Guthrie St PS
“A fantastic response and great enjoyment from preps to the coolest of the grade 6’s. A teacher’s quote: “the quality of the singing was better than in the traditional pantomimes she had seen in England”. Interaction with children was great. The actors obviously love what they do and engage all age groups. The staff looks forward to this production every year. Lots of positive comments float around the staffroom for days afterwards.” – Letitia Weber, Grahamvale PS
“Related well to the children and kept them totally engaged for the duration of the play. Script very well written. The modern references were very well received by children. Few hidden references for the adults too! Very professional. Obviously enjoy what they do. In depth and engaging support docuementation. Great that there are materials aimed at all school levels. Good strong positive message. Kids understood what was being conveyed. Best school production I have seen. I enjoyed it more than some of the kids. Thought it was great. No improvement needed. Thought the use of modern songs was genius. Had kids singing and moving to the music. References to PSP, Wii etc were great. Kids loved that. Use of humour was excellent. Kept kids and teachers alike amused and engaged.” – Celia Lee, Bourchier St PS
“Great voices and fantastic enthusiasm and rapport with audience. Always makes it age appropriate and includes language the kids relate to. Very friendly and adaptable/organised. Great ideas – lots of material to work on! Makes it more meaningful to kids back in classroom by having good post/pre show material. Ties in with our values + You can Do it etc. Well put together – great acting/singing. Also scene changes very effective. I think the kids showed their appreciation in their questions at the end + in their participation and enthusiasm during the show. Plus they were unanimous in their response to ALPHA returning next year. Excellent mix of comedy/dance/singing and story telling. They way Alpha present their shows always brings the characters and stories to life and really gets the audience involved.” – Sally Stacey, Sandringham PS
“Very professional – very jealous! How clever (the script) – I love it! And the kids faces tell 25 stories! Thank you thank you thank you – the boys love it. Very cleverly done. What more can I say. I love it and enjoy promoting it to the students. I just love your work. You bring so much joy to the kids, they are mesmerised. I love watching their faces as you perform. The kids talk about your performance for days, weeks even months later. I’m very jealous! You are all so good at what you do. Keep it up! I miss your performance, mostly because I love to watch the faces of the kids. How rewarding is your job. FANTASTIC!” – Jenny Scott, Mossgiel Park PS
“Very well rehearsed, confident and related well to the audience. Very clever – even humour added for the benefit of the teachers!. Gave the students and staff a lot of time. Very clear message. Best yet! Students have written letters to the cast to express their excitement at being involved with the production. They were captivated by the performance and gained a lot through the experience. Looking forward to next years productino, can’t wait! Thank you” – Mossgiel Park PS
“All seemed to enjoy their roles and protrayed this to the children. The scenery etc was excellent. The music was modern and appropriate – the children enjoyed this aspect too. All took time to answer the children’s questions etc. Can’t wait for the next one! I am impressed with all the Alpha Shows I have seen (five of them!) I think they are always excellent. My children loved the show. The boys all thought Laura was beautiful in her red dress. They all liked Hercules — ‘muscles’ and Hades costume. I like the way every effort is made to engage all the children. Every child in my class was so excited to be going and full of praise after the show. All made comments abotu the costumes and how pretty the girls in the cast were. The boys loved the sword fights.” – Mossgiel Park PS
“My students loved it! What a fantastic experience for the students, I even brought my own daughter in to view it! You cater to all age levels and we all love it.” – Mossgiel Park PS
“All children engaged, excellent. Some of the lines just a little above preps heads [Ben: yes they are for older students and adults!]. Having children participate in the play is a great idea. Fabulous” – Kunyung PS
“Excellent. Loved traditional theatre with current music, humour for adults much loved!!! Clever on different levels. We really appreciate your efforts! Thanks for driving from Ararat overnight!. Wow! Wonderful! Could we billet the group in 2008!! – At least provide dinner and drinks!” – Joy Hay-Smith, Paynesville PS
“Stand tall was an excellent message for the kids – positive body language etc very valuable. Outstanding quality production at an amazing price! In the 4th year of our Alpha Shows there was far less of a ‘stand back cool kids’ element in our upper grades – they were guessing which teacher you would pick o n! Whole school now familiar with and love the traditions. The wonderful audience participation, use of popular songs, humour in script…” – Maree Seymour, Sherbourne PS
“Excellent. Such a great support to the curriculum. Themes of honesty, integrity, forgiveness etc excellent.” – Val Lockwood, Healesville PS
“Loved the weasel, so excited about the whole thing. The music and singing seemed to be well loved by all. Each year I really look forward to the finale song which our older children seem to know by heart and leaves you feeling on such a high. Well done keep providing us excellent shows.” – Graham Haynes, Kananook PS
“Message was explained clearly. Fascinating story. Would love to see it again. Want to come back next year (from Secondary schools) to see Aladdin. One of the best! Funny and entertaining. Thanks for the autograph. Enjoyed talking to the actors afterwards. Cool (from year5/6). Excellent. High level of excitement throughout. Great volume of singing and dialogue. Wonderful student participation. Clever use of current songs / technlogy / culture to tell ancient story. As unforgettable as all previous ALPHA productions.” – Kananook PS
“Lots of energy and great comedy! The hero concept came through strongly. They absolutely loved it. Hopefully will be exhausted afterwards! Great fun. Haven’t laughed that much in ages!” – Patricia Amerena, Coburg West PS
“Excellent. Storyteller spoke a bit fast. They worked well with kids. Workshops great! The kids, teachers and parents all enjoyed it. Night show was fantastic and lots of fun. We nearly fell off our chairs laughing. The sets looked really good. The sword fight was good. Pegasus and Hercules were cute. Ben’s laugh was awesome. Great song choices again. Enjoyable, quality experience for the children. The values part covered is very important and well done. Crowd participation makes the show, especially through pre-show workshops and info. Adult show was excellent. Everyone loved it, laughed a lot and nwant to come back next year. They all said they felt fired up and happy at the end of the show. I t hink they will even dress up next year! Thanks again and I can highly recommend the show being done in this way (a separate adults only evening show). A lot of fun. Make sure they know to join in etc before the show if doing it for someone else. Adds to the atmosphere. Suggestion, could go a bit further and dress someone up for a small part in a scene or something like that – a bit like a theatre restaurant. We are thinking of having a meal served next year too.” – Jenny Goldsmith, Donald PS
“We are continually impressed with the quality each year. The children loved it! They enjoyed singing along with the songs they knew. It’s great how the actors involve the audience. Thank you all – it was fabulous as always!” – Pam Hillas, Black Hill PS
“Metaphor explanations really good. Very engaging for the children. They really enjoy being involved and tend to stay focussed on the storyline. Very positive.” – Melissa, Haddon PS
“Being a hero part of the play – inspiring. Staff and students thoroughly enjoyed the show. Sword was mentioned several times, liked the fact that Hercules didn’t die. 90 min went very quickly – the children were enthralled. It was a great total package – very organised and entertaining. A great pantomime feel.” – Jane Moore, Westbourne Park PS
“Fantastic! Please come back! Oustanding, funny, amusing, highly entertaining. Very impressed with the quality. Cute girls. A great show that captivated the children and teachers. The show was fantastic, the children really got involved and enjoyed the show. The intereaction with the teachers was funny too!” – Irymple PS
