Review: DICK WHITTINGTON, Birmingham Hippodrome
Photo credit: Paul Coltas
One of the flagship pantomime venues in the country, Birmingham Hippodrome’s panto offering this year is Dick Whittington, and it’s certainly back with a bang!
Crossroads Pantomimes have brought Ian Westbrook’s sets from the London Palladium to the UK’s second city, injecting a rainbow of colour and bringing joy to the Birmingham stage, along with Ben Cracknell’s electric lighting design. Everything has been thrown at this show including magical flying sequences, dazzling costumes by Teresa Nalton (with as much love and attention given to those in the ensemble through to the Dame’s speciality outfits by Mike Coltman - of which there are many!) and a GIANT rodent - don’t say we didn’t warn you, Besties!
Master of his craft Michael Harrison once again directs the Hippodrome panto, working with a side-splitting script penned by Birmingham panto favourite Matt Slack and Alan McHugh. The show also features a selection of original numbers composed by returning cast member Marti Pellow and Grant Mitchell, with lyrics by Shaun McKenna. With steadfast musical direction by Robert Willis, the opening numbers of both acts could have been stronger but ‘Dare To Dream’ is definitely an earworm that will stay with you for the journey home and beyond! Towards the start of the show, there did appear to be a misalignment between the vocals and music but this was soon rectified, and the sound balance between the levels was spot on throughout.
This year’s star-studded cast includes the aforementioned Matt Slack (who returns to lead the Birmingham panto for his ninth consecutive year) as Dick Whittington, singer/songwriter Marti Pellow, as The Ratman TV doctor and presenter Dr Ranj as The Sprit of the Bells, popstar and musical theatre performer Suzanne Shaw as Alice Fitzwarren, self proclaimed ‘lazy cow’ Doreen Tipton as Doreen the Cat, and Andrew Ryan as Felicity Fitzwarren.
Whilst there is a (loose) plot, you may as well call this production ‘The Matt Slack Show’ as Slack has more than earned his stripes in proving that he is one of the best panto stars in the country, without a doubt. Despite returning year on year, he always comes up with new, intelligent and slightly naughty material, as well as keeping in those gags that consistently go down well with audiences. The jokes end up going over the kids’ heads and into the grown-ups’ ears, providing much hilarity for all. Throw all of the stars at this man - he is at the top of his game.
Marti Pellow is a superb villain and clearly revels in this role but his diction could be much clearer - this could be a reason why the show’s opening number doesn’t land as it should; it doesn’t allow the audience to connect from the outset. Dr Ranj is a real surprise in his role and he is a particularly great support to Slack during some of his fast paced gag sequences. He also has a beautiful voice - more of this please! Suzanne Shaw is a little underused as Alice but it’s nice that she has a ‘girl power moment’ in helping to capture The Ratman in the second half and she too demonstrates a stunning vocal.
Gill Jordan aka Doreen Tipton is a revelation in this show, despite not being a massive role. She too returns after entertaining Birmingham audiences in recent years and she is a force to be reckoned with - and that voice! She received one of the biggest applauses of the night for her shortened rendition of ‘Memory’ from Cats. Andrew Ryan’s experience as a Dame radiates through his every being and he is consistently good from start to finish, managing his rather large wardrobe with ease.
The ensemble in this show are probably the cleanest and slickest that we’ve seen in a long time, delivering Alan Harding’s choreography perfectly in unison and hitting each accent.
An accomplished, joyful and thoroughly entertaining performance.
**** Four stars
Reviewed by: Jenny Ell
Dick Whittington plays at Birmingham Hippodrome until 29 January 2023, with tickets available here.
