Original music based on The Jungle Book set for premiere in Penrith

This summer ACT Youth Theatre are promising an “immersive experience through the Indian Jungle” as they tell the story of The Jungle Book in a brand-new musical, ‘The Legend of Mowgli’.

The audience will be enveloped in a world torn between nature or nurture as they watch this new musical performed in the round with specially built revolving stage.

The Legend of Mowgli was developed by ACT Youth Theatre’s founders Jennifer and Pauley Heron to celebrate ACT’s 10th anniversary.

Over the last year the couple have been working with a band creating original music to accompany their libretto as well as choreographing dance and physical theatre elements for the production.

Costume design is also well underway for the production (Image: ACT Youth Theatre)Pauley said: “Initially when Jen and I had the idea of doing a musical version of The Jungle Book, we wanted to give the audience an immersive feel of being in the jungle, so we thought that it would lend itself to being in the round.

"This has also given our students the opportunity to learn how to perform in a new way.

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"The idea of using a of a revolving stage came from having seen this device being used in musicals such as Hamilton and Les Misérables, and always looking for new ways to challenge myself and our students, I thought ‘Hey, let’s make a revolve from scratch!’”.

Costumes for the show have been designed and created by talented ACT parents, Susan Cartwright-Smith and Laura Vincze while professional stage make-up will be provided by Kelly McCall and the ACT students, themselves, have been involved in all aspects of the production from costume making and set painting to the acting, singing and dancing on stage.

The show is set to be performed on June 17 and 18 at The George Hotel in Penrith and on July 8 and 9 at Carlisle College. Tickets are available through the ACT Youth Theatre website.