DICK WHITTINGTON

DICK WHITTINGTON
Made in Colchester at the Mercury Theatre, Colchester
03.12.2016
for The Reviews Hub

Beneath the impressive 21st century gloss, and despite the Trump gags, this is a warmly traditional panto, its appeal effortlessly spanning the generations.
Director and co-writer Daniel Buckroyd has wisely re-hired many of last year's Aladdin company; they seem very much at home in the Mercury, and their banter with each other and rapport with the audience are a delight.
Dale Superville makes a perfect Idle Jack – Roger the cabin boy on the Saucy Sally, getting the kids on his side instantly; he's the ideal foil for Antony Stuart-Hicks' glamorous Merseyside Mrs Suet, alias Sarah the Cook. Tall, glamorous with ever-higher heels and coiffure, George Robey eyebrows and a tasty line in crudities, this is a classic Dame. Ignatius Anthony relishes every moment of Ratty King (“a child crying, music to my ears”), a role cleverly re-imagined as a raffish villain out to seize political power in the City of London.
Gracie Lai is an agile Thomasina the Cat – wordless, as tradition demands, but very expressive nonetheless, and superb in a mewed rendition of Memory (from Cats, in case you'd forgotten) as she hypnotises the rats in the Sultan's palace.
The fruity-toned Fitzwarren is done with some style by Richard Earl, and Barbara Hockaday pulls off an unlikely double as Fairy Bow Bells and Captain Barnacle.
Love interest in the youthful shape of “Poundland Poldark” Whittington (Glenn Adamson) and his charming Alice (Grace Eccle).
The gloss includes David Shields' wonderful set, a centre circle, the face of Big Ben projected onto it, with clockwork designs, or the houses of old London, curving around it. The Epicurean Emporium, and the pitching ship's galley are beautifully realised.
The costumes too – not only Ratty's Dickensian outfit and the Dame's eye-catching creations (bathing drawers, Essex girl beehive, and she's the only one to get a change for the actual walk-down), but the attention to detail throughout, the sparkly shoes and fezzes for the Moroccan rats, for instance.
And the timeless tradition extends to some very venerable jokes (“Avast behind!” and “All hands on deck!”, shared with the equally saucy ship at the Wolsey this year), a UV underwater ballet, a ghost routine with a rather unconvincing camel, an old-fashioned Friendship medley for Dick and his Cat, that good old campfire classic Bobbing Up and Down Like This, and a wicked Twelve Days parody featuring a huge inflatable gin bottle and celebrity chefs - “Mary Berry's cherry”.
Charlie Morgan's choreography is snappy and inventive: the talented Junior Chorus excellently employed on board ship and in the Madness rats number. Richard Reeday, who's contributed lyrics and arrangements, is the Musical Director.
One of my three wishes after last year's Aladdin was for more of the same. The Made In Colchester genies have certainly delivered, - an object lesson in how to bring fun and freshness to a winning formula.

production photograph: Pamela Raith

DICK WHITTINGTON

DICK WHITTINGTON

Cut to the Chase at the Queen's Theatre Hornchurch

02.12.13

for The Public Reviews

The Queen's have been busy celebrating their diamond jubilee this year. They remain, at heart, a traditional repertory house, with familiar faces pulling together in the make-or-break end-of-year panto.

So Simon Jessop is Dame again in Dick Whittington; since he last glammed up he's been Ray Say and Jaques, as well as appearing in a thriller and a farce.

His Sarah the Cook relishes the innuendo and the familiar routines, though, as he reminds us, we only have to hear this stuff once, the company will still be delivering these deathless lines in six weeks' time.

Elliot Harper makes a likeable Idle Jack, prone to narcolepsy and boom-boom jokes, Sarah Scowen is the lovely Alice, with Alison Thea-Skot slapping that thigh again as Dick. Sam Pay is an excellent Fitzwarren, fruity and pompous, his every entrance heralded, for some reason, by Tony Hancock's tuba tune.

The non-humans are Samuel Ward-Smith's elegant King Rat, Lauren Brown's beautifully enunciated Bow Bells, and a sinuously feline Tommy from Sam Kordbacheh.

As usual, there's a juvenile chorus, who get some smart routines, and a classical Greek number on the Isle of Mythaca.

Nicholas Pegg's book is a sometimes lumpy mixture of sophisticated wit, with nice patter lists, old, and I mean ancient, favourites, [“Avast Behind!”, Greek Urn] and schoolboy smut. Unexpected delights include Watsup Dock, Incriminate! and Ah, Bestow, not to mention the fool's errands advertised all over Fitzwarren's shop.

There's a sing-along with Bow Bell Bongs, a 3D sequence for the shipwreck, cash-register name-checks for our sponsors, and even a Tinkerbell moment when the noisy audience is coaxed down to a whisper for “Please Tommy, Live ...”

Carol Sloman's serviceable songs include a knees-up You're Very Very Welcome, a couple of nice duets, and the big turn-again number at the end of Act One, as Dick relives his dream and climbs the pop-up-book staircase to Old London Town. MD, in the depths of the bi-partite pit, is Greg Last, who provides some excellent incidental music – Trenet and Jaws for the sea, a lovely little tune for the superglue routine.

Mark Walters' sets are a constant treat – the street, the ship, the shop interior, the huge and hungry basilisk, the remote control rats and the glittering arches of bells. He designs the frocks too; the Dame's dresses this year [by Jean Roberts] include a onesie, a pink muffin, yellow oilskins and a sparkling patriotic outfit for the walk-down.

As in the best reps, everything is done in house – the costumes, the music, the scene building. No doubt they're already planning the forest of thorns for next year's panto.

production photograph: Nobby Clark

this piece first appeared on The Public Reviews

DICK WHITTINGTON

DICK WHITTINGTON

at the New Wolsey Theatre, Ipswich

26.11.13

for The Public Reviews

Not exactly an austerity panto, but this Dick Whittington is set in the grey postwar world of the 1950s. Diego Pitarch's inspired design has an illuminated Mansion House tube sign, and the tiled walls of the London Underground. There's a red phone box stage right for Fairy Bowbells, and manhole covers helpfully inscribed Foul Sewer London.

The transformation from rat-infested underworld to gold-paved streets is distinctly underwhelming, and only three characters have a costume change for the walk-down.

But no corners are cut in the performance; the ten actor-musicians give their all in this, the 13^th rock'n'roll pantomime to hit the Wolsey stage.

It never ceases to amaze – a dame at the drum-kit, a cat on the trumpet, and full eight-piece backing band, plus vocals, for the big solo numbers. All drawn from the same super-talented team of ten.

A J Dean, a fresh-faced, winsome Dick, sporting a cheeky smile and the obligatory spotted handkerchief, brings a very authentic rock'n'roll style to the song and dance routines. His Alice is a very energetic Nicola Hawkins; she has a wonderful way with the vocals, too, her First Cut Is The Deepest a highlight amongst the 21 musical numbers.

“Hiya, saucepots !” - it's Sarah the Cook, a man-hungry dame very much in the old-fashioned mould: funny walks, mildly suggestive, easily outraged, besotted with Steve in row B. A superb performance from Sean Kingsley, who has impressive West End credentials. The other comedy star is Tim Bonser as Billy Bungalow, with just the right blend of pathos, physicality and sheer silliness [bubble pipe, rat-a-pult …].

Wolsey favourite Shirley Darroch is back as the good fairy. She has a down-to-earth Cockney delivery, and certainly knows how to sell a song - “Turn, turn”, a clever choice, is excellently delivered.

Jofre Alsina makes a pompous Alderman, and Dan de Cruz, ducking and diving as King Rat, leads an epidemic of rodents, including the Rat Pack of Punks giving their Sex Pistols tribute. CiCi Howells, who'll play Polly Peachum here next year, is a lovely, slinky Taffy the Cat.

The playlist is eclectic: real 50s classics [Tutti Frutti] jostling with Meatloaf, Mud and Bonnie Tyler. “Walking on Sunshine” works very well, as does the high-octane encore “Tiger Feet”.

Peter Rowe's script retains all the key elements of the traditional show – some lovely rhyming couplets, too – but manages to bring sophistication and freshness to it at the same time. Like the music, not everything is retro – both Boris J and George O get a name-check – and as Sarah points out, “it's not all about Dick!”. And there is an ominous sign that last year's gangnam might be this year's twerking.

There's a welcome sprinkling of the surreal – Derek the Fly, a few bars of Cats, a tumbleweed moment – and the self-referential - “Seeing stars ? Not in this panto, mate ...”. Even the sound effects – often proudly flatulent – are the object of the Dame's frustrated fury.

Not so many local jokes this year, but every reference to Dick's home town is met with a proud cheer from the packed Ipswich audience, welcoming back this uniquely enjoyable blend of panto and popular music.

production photograph: Mike Kwasniak

this piece first appeared on The Public Reviews

DICK WHITTINGTON

DICK WHITTINGTON

One from the Heart at the Civic Theatre Chelmsford

06.12.2012

for The Public Reviews

A pantomime is nothing without music. But where to turn for the numbers between the slapstick and the magic ? So far this season, it's been rock'n'roll classics, an original score, and now here in Chelmsford a raid on the more upbeat offerings from the charts.

Which works very well, with lively songs appropriately arranged for this young panto company, from the Pet Shop Boys' "Go West" [with semaphore flags] to One Direction's "What Makes You Beautiful".

Especially impressive vocally is the all-important cat – Tommy Jones [cue "It's Not Unusual"] – played by Waylon Jacobs.

There's a nonsense song too – vintage Gang Show – involving the inevitable custard pies, a number from Children of Eden ["Good to See the Sun Again"], a sing-off for the audience, and a noisy megamix encore finale.

Amongst the many energetic routines, most original was the three-way wooing ["Love is All Around"] atop the counter in Fitzwarren's shop. [Fitzwarren himself a victim of austerity cuts, I imagine.]

The stunningly glamorous opening sequence ["In Living Color"] – a flying moon bearing the Good Fairy against a star cloth – features four talented chorus boys, from the Laine School, who provide excellent back-up throughout, in a parade of ever-so-slightly camp costumes.

The show is beautifully designed, picture-book settings, a Shakespearean storm, an old-fashioned tableau for the prediction that ends Act One, and a walk-down against a heraldic staircase with everyone resplendent in gold frocks.

A strong cast, too, with Richard Earl back in Chelmsford as Sarah the Cook and Lewis Barnshaw working the audience as Simple Simon her son. The supernaturals are in the safe hands of Jenny-Ann Topham as the Good Fairy Bowbells [get it ?], and Kivan Dene relishing his role as King Rat, accompanied by his furry minions, variously remote-controlled, or glove puppets, or danced by the children's chorus.

No principal boy here, but the "perfectly proportioned features" of Craig Rhys Barlow, the boy-band handsome Whittington, who eventually wins the hand of Abigail Rosser's Alice.

Simon Aylin's very enjoyable version of Dick Whittington [the City of Chelmsford the starting point for his journey to Old London Town] is stuffed with quick-fire gags, including some very old favourites and a confectionery sketch that is delightfully delivered. And the ghost routine – "Wimoweh", no less – involves a kick-line of four gorillas and a chase through the stalls. Like the Crazy for You opening, you don't see that every day …

this piece first appeared on The Public Reviews

and for the Chelmsford Weekly News ...

You'll not see a more stylish opening than this in panto: forget dancing on the village green, here we have our Good Fairy flying in on a moon, with four young men in evening dress waiting below.

This is Bowbells, a very forceful East End fairy in Jenny-Ann Topham's performance, who'll tell Dick to turn again and become Lord Mayor.

One from the Heart have come up with another custom-built panto for the Civic, with bandbox-bright sets and a succession of jokes, routines, and numbers from the charts, all delivered with fizzing energy and slick style.

Pleased to see Richard Earl back again as Dame, Sarah the Cook this year, who models herself at least in part on Fanny Cradock, gets to wear some glorious creations and ends up hitched to Kivan Dene's gleefully spiteful King Rat. The other wedding, superbly set against a heraldic backdrop and costumed in gold, sees Craig Rhys Barlow's Dick tie the knot with the glamorous Alice [Abigail Rosser].

Preening and posturing, Waylon Jacobs makes a very watchable Tommy, and Lewis Barnshaw, as Simple Simon, achieves an instant rapport with the kids in the audience.

Custard pies, dancing gorillas, water pistols, pyrotechnics and a One Direction moment. And all done with professionalism, polish and pizazz. Dick Whittington finally hangs up his spotted hankie on January 6 – catch him if you can.