Dick Whittington

Well what can I say? Wow! What a start to my journey as a NODA rep. A thoroughly entertaining evening
from start to finish. All the cast and crew should be very proud of all their hard work, dedication and
commitment to a truly fabulous production. Everyone from the cast, the crew, production team, tech
team, costumes, front of house and many more that I’m sure I haven’t mentioned have worked hard to
produce a show of outstanding quality that wouldn’t look out of place alongside professional companies.
The question is where do I start?
In such a beautiful venue to hold a very popular, classic panto Pickering Musical Society used every
asset at their disposal to stage their performance. The staging was phenomenal, very well designed with
space and ensuring that set changes ran smoothly and didn’t interrupt the running of the show. The
audience were extremely reactive to each joke, local quip and tongue in cheek remark that they made,
truly encouraging the actors to continue to play along with the audience’s enthusiasm.
Each and every cast member deserves a mention within their own right whether they were a principle or
in the chorus. Each cast member kept in character throughout, and nobody hid in the shadows. Notable
performances however were still made by Stephen Temple, who played Idle Jack, and Marcus Burnside,
who played Hilda Humbug, played their parts so well that they regularly had the audience giggling and
sometimes in fits of laughter. Cast that also should be mentioned are Danielle Long, who played Dick
Whitington, Rosie Hodgson, who played Alice Fitzflintoft, and John Brooks, who played Uriah
Underwood, who worked so well together and really bounced off each other’s energy to create an
excellent pace and story line you couldn’t help be drawn into.
The musical numbers were excellent showing that the cast had spent much time working hard to make
them as good as they could be, accompanied by a wonderfully enthusiastic live band which helped
create the ambiance for the show. Costumes were very well thought out and really helped the cast
portray their characters and blend in together to become a great unit. It is worth noting that the young
dancers from Ashworth School of Dance were an excellent addition to the cast and worked so well within
the cast you would think they were solely part of it, a big well done ladies.
If this performance is anything to go by I shall definitely look forward to adding their next show into my
diary to go and see. Luke Arnold and his team should be very proud of all the cast and crew and should
give themselves a massive pat on the back for the dedication and effort, it was definitely noted. Well
done Pickering Musical Society.

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