Tweenies Live! – Top of the Tots

BBC’s Tweenies are aimed at the pre school market so the show features bright colours and larger than life characters. There’s Fizz, Bella, Jake, Milo and of course Doodles the dog.

This show is all about the songs and trying to choose the best one to be “Top of the Tots”. The marketing claims it will have you ‘dancing in the aisles’ but unfortunately the theatre staff do not seem to agree with this and keep asking children to go back to their seats when they do try and do this. My 4-year-old companion also asked why the lights had to keep shining in his eyes instead of lighting up the stage, although it was great to be able to watch the enchanted look on his face as the performance took place.

There is a mixture of well known songs; such as “Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star”, “5 Little Ducks” and “Heads, Shoulders, Knees and Toes”; and some of the Tweenies own songs. Most of them are sung once and then the audience is encouraged to join in if they are not already doing so!

The special effects and extra dressing up the characters do are well done and certainly seem to captivate the younger members of the audience with several squeals of delight and loud cries of “Mummy did you see that?!”.

The merchandise on sale in the foyer is another exciting distraction for them with many statements of “I want” being followed by the clink of the cash box. Several children got fibre optic wands with their favourite character on the way into the theatre and I was not the only one who got sent for one in the interval.

Definitely entertaining to the market audience and enjoyable to those companions who are willing to “let go” for a couple of hours and be reminded of the songs of our early years.

– Maria Robertson