Santa Claus and the Magical Christmas Journey at G Live Review
Santa Claus and the
Magical Christmas Journey
G Live, Guildford
10-24 December 2014
Reviewed by Emma Johnston
To say that we were excited to be chosen to review this show would be an understatement! I took along my husband and two daughters aged 2 and 6½. We hadn’t been to the G Live in Guildford before. Their website was extremely helpful in providing directions and local parking information. We arrived half an hour before the show started and parked at the G Live car park right next to the venue. Our show was the first show that day, and although we found a parking space easily the car park soon filled up fast with parents and excited children. At £1.50 to park all day (on a Sunday) we found it to be fantastic value.
The G Live itself is a lovey new building with a large, clean and welcoming foyer, appropriately dressed for Christmas with a beautiful tree and plenty of comfortable seating. There was even a small craft market setting up as we arrived offering lots of lovely handmade presents. The staff were extremely courteous and warmly welcomed all the guests as they arrived through the doors. We were given lots of information about the location of baby changing if needed and also advised that there are larger cubicles in the ladies for Mummies with accompanying children. There were a few festive flashing light toys available for sale, but I liked the fact that there wasn’t lots of merchandise for sale. We’ve been to some kids shows where you are bombarded with masses of overpriced show themed merchandise which I personally find off putting.
Upstairs there is a lovely cafe and restaurant which serves a good priced children’s menu. All of which can be accessed via the website and tables booked in advance for lunch if wanted. We were greeted by the manager and shown to our seats.
The show was in the smaller Bellerby Studio. It felt just the right size for a show aimed at aged 2 years +, not overwhelming at all. There were 6 rows of seats set out either side of the central aisle and there were plenty of booster seats available for the younger children. The main attraction was the large Santa sleigh dominating the stage. Just shortly after we took our seats the two elves Charlie and Kara arrived and started to entertain the audience while we waited for the show to start. They were fabulous, interacting with the children, telling jokes, high fiving and singing Christmas songs. The show started on time shortly afterwards with the arrival of Santa!
The show tells the story of one Christmas Eve, when Santa Claus is flying high above the clouds delivering presents to all the very good boys and girls around the world. Hiding in the back are two naughty elves Charlie and Kara who have snuck on-board for the ride!
All is well until suddenly, just as Santa Claus flies high above Guildford, the Sat Nav goes haywire and breaks leaving him stranded without his list of postcodes to deliver presents to! With the clock ticking and morning fast approaching it’s down to Charlie, Kara and Muffin the bear to come up with a clever plan to save Christmas. There are plenty of songs to join in with and Santa does some great magic which amazed my 6 year old! The actors were very friendly and obviously enjoyed what they were doing. They put the younger audience at ease and involved them with the show. Everybody got to join in with the singing, some classics like twinkle twinkle and Santa got stuck up the chimney along with a rather energetic and entertaining 12 days of Christmas! Both girls were enchanted by the magic performed by Santa, saving the audience from being drenched by a thunderstorm by turning the rain into bubbles and possibly the most magical part when Santa used his magic to make it snow inside the theatre!
At the end of the show all the children were invited up to meet Santa, sit in his sleigh and to have a chat and a photo taken with him. They all received stickers and a small gift of a colouring book and crayons. The staff lead one row of children up at a time to see Santa. We were sat at the back so had to wait just about 30 minutes to see him. However, all the time there was festive Christmas music playing and Charlie and Kara the elves chatted to the audience, so the time passed quickly. I had packed some small food treats for the girls which also kept them occupied. When our turn arrived, the girls were welcomed by Santa into his sleigh. He chatted to them and even put my rather nervous 2 year old at ease by performing a little magic trick! He was a genuinely lovely Santa. We didn’t feel any pressure to hurry along on our way. Although no photographs were allowed during the performance, we were encouraged to take as many photos as we wanted of the girls with Santa. They both came away smiling, by far our most enjoyable Santa meet so far! Thank you!!
The venue and show both exceeded our expectations and I shall certainly be booking to go again to see some of the many other performances scheduled for next year.
Rating: 5/5 
Tickets cost from £12.50 to £15.50, Family ticket from £46 to £54 (plus 50p per ticket booking fee).
Santa Claus and the Magical Christmas Journey is at G Live until 24 December 2014. For more information or to book tickets click here or call the box office on 0844 7701 797.
G Live, London Road, Guildford, GU1 2AA | 0844 7701 797
