Dick Whittington

Applause given to the Director, James Cornick an extraordinary cast, each one suited to the parts, which they played with such panache.

Alan Owens as Musical Director with his group of four musicians gave us the bounce we expect at a Panto. I must congratulate Fay Donaldson on Flute and sax she lifted the evening.

Choreography was led by Emma Greenhalgh, a well tutored cast and chorus who enjoy their dancing. With such a range of ages to work with you did such a good job.

Starting our story was King Rat, played by Stee Leaby, he was wonderfully evil and played to the jives from the audience, even though we shouldn’t, we loved him. He was helped in his quest by four very cute rattling’s.

The Variety Co. Have gathered together a lovely mix of young people, 17 of them formed an enthusiastic chorus. This is a great way to hopefully guarantee the continuation of the society.

Bouncing onto the stage came Idle Jack, played by Nigel Thompson. Such a bundle of energy and fun, along with his Mother, Dolly Dumpling, they stole the show with their top slapstick kitchen scene, a fantastic team. Dolly played by Nick Brown who after 14 years of playing the dame with the company has got it down to a fine art.

Dick Wittington played by Jasmine Smith and Alice Fitzwarren played by Eleanor Reynolds brought us the romantic leads, both showed tenderness in their musical numbers and gave confident performances. Alice’s father, Alderman Fitzwarren played by Dan Matuszac gave us a commanding performance showing good stage presence.

Moving the story to a happy ending was Fairy Bowbells played by Anthea Richardson Owens. She made a pretty and dainty fairy, just what the audience wish for. The fairy magically gave Dick a friend for his journey, Tom the cat played by Evie Cooke. Evie has been in the chorus for the last four years, well done taking your first character roll.

Steering the ship was Captain Cuttlefish played by Tracie Birdsall, aided and abetted by the Scupper played by Keith Burns in his first Panto with the company, good teamwork there. The cast are shipwrecked to the shores of Morocco and meet with the Sultan played by Benjamin Laws-Williams., a very smooth character.

A big part of Pantomime is the costumes and the team really excelled in this, also thanks to the large backstage crew for a smooth running show. A great entertaining evening.

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