Dick Whittington

Dick Whittington - 19/12/19
Preston Musical Comedy Society

I was welcomed warmly by the front of house team with the many other audience members that were in line for their light up goodies. The show was accompanied by a small live band consisting of Keys, Bass and Drums ably directed by David Thomas.  He directed the band and stage cast with confidence and kept good control over the full show. The set and scenery in this small theatre was well thought out and put together with a careful eye to detail.  The story of Dick Whittington becoming mayor of London with the help of his cat and challenged by the queen of the rats is an age old pantomime story. This version was written by Barry Crossley who attended the performance the previous night and I was reliably informed, loved the performance so I, along with the large audience, was looking forward to my fun night at The Preston Playhouse.

This was a very enjoyable evening and the cast certainly gave it 110% on stage.  The age ranged from young performers from The Carol May School of Dance all the way through to the senior cast members planing the lead roles. I would like to mention a couple of the cast members with the first being - Queen Rat played by Hannah Bates. Hannah gave a fantastic performance as the evil queen rat and had the audience “Booing” along to the whole show, a very confident and well projected performance from Hannah well done. Paula Hodgson played Fairy Bowbells and Paula gave a lovely rendition of the pantomime fairy with a down to earth and accessible performance - well done Paula.  Dick Whittington in the title role played by Pippa Lane did a fantastic job performing as the pantomime lead.  Her character strong and held throughout the audience, projection was great and she never stopped performing from first curtain to the final curtain Pippa’s partner in crime The Cat played by Hannah Riordan was performed spectacularly, her acting was absolutely first class with great mime and some very convincing and very affective facial expression. Well done, Hannah, not an easy roll but you did a great job. The comedy for the show came in the shape of the Pantomime Dame, Sarah the Cook played by Stephen Hall and Idle Jack played by Aaron McGregor.  Stephen was a great Pantomime Dame standing head and shoulders above all the other cast without heels and then with his lavish costumes and wigs, really was a force to be reckoned with on stage. His timing was great and his projection was nice and strong. Hats off to Idle Jack, the comedy and goofy role in this performance, Aaron did a fantastic job throughout.  His interaction with the audience and keping the pace going throughout the script was first rate.  His script was delivered with great timing and his songs were energetic.  The leading lady for the show was Alice Fitzwarren played by Kate Parks, Kate’s vocals were outstanding and she held the audience transfixed a number of times throughout her solos you could hear a pin drop in the auditorium as she was performing. The vocals were powerful, tuneful and on point - great job Kate well done.  Delphine Walton played Alderwoman Fitzwarren and her dance moves and vocals were great, good character acting.   A real audience favourite Captain Crabstick was played by Matthew Whittingham, who also played the Sultan of Morocco and both of these parts were performed well with plenty of energy, well done Matthew.  Roger the Cabin Boy was played by Thomas Baines, a wonderfully camp and fabulous character on stage, he communicated very well with the audience and they were laughing most of his lines. Eddie Reagan and Mark Howard directed this brilliant offering, with Mark Howard stepping in as Stage Manager also.  Gemma Burns was the choreographer and she did a fantastic job of putting this production on to a small stage. PMCS are used to performing at The Charter Theatre in Preston which certainly dwarfs this stage and I’m sure choreography would have been a challenge with the restricted space and it turned out as a fantastic show.  The costumes by Janet Radcliffe were absolutely outstanding and would be well placed with a much higher budget on the Manchester and London West End stage well done Janet.  Dec Murray was our engineer for the night providing light and sound and did a fantastic job to look after both for this very quick paced production, he handled everything spectacularly - well well done Dec.  In  conclusion I would like to offer my congratulations to Preston Musical Comedy Society, who’ve not had the easiest of years and they have pulled off a fantastic production and a great pantomime which has delighted many audience members this evening.   I’m impressed at their level of professionalism and their abilities to turn out a fantastic show, I look forward to your next production well done Preston Musical Comedy Society.

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