As any long suffering parent knows, Tree Fu Tom is very much a part of the Cbeebies canon, and as such was a welcome addition to Worthing's child friendly theatre listings.
The production itself was slick - brilliantly realised costumes, annoyingly catchy songs and smartly choreographed dance routines.
But the show itself somehow lacked the spark needed to keep a room full of four year olds from sliding off their seats in a fidgety mess.
The story involves acorn sprite Twig finding a map and the ensuing treasure hunt, complete with map loss, map retrieval and jewel find. So far so good.
However, it feels as though the script was lifted directly from the TV show without much thought for keeping a stage audience fully engaged save for chucking in a couple of songs.
Tom's “big world magic” routines felt like a missed opportunity to get the audience really involved and part of the Treetopolis adventure.
Having said that, the evil Mushers provided a couple of genuinely laugh out loud moments, and the familiar cartoon characters were really brought to life by an enthusiastic cast, clearly well versed in the intricacies of the Tree Fu universe.
Three stars
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