Dick Whittington and his Cat

Dick Whittington and His Cat the latest production from Burton Amateur Stage Entertainers was a complete hoot for both my wife Jan and myself last night at the Brewhouse Arts Centre, Burton.

Gemma Collins as Dick Whittington slapped her thighs like a gud 'un. I loved the camaraderie with her lovable cat Tommy, the authentically feline Pam Holburn, milking the good 'catlibs' on the ukulele, together with the stolen moments with love interest Alice Fitzwarren, Ellie Austin, who had a real freshness about her, came across very well, nice singing voice as well.

Idle Jack Sprat - Peter Bourne, really understands his role, delivers with such aplomb, feeds off the audience, channelling his terrific stage presence which comes across well to the audience. Excellent.

Martin Goodall certainly made a crashing entry as Jack's mum Gertrude Sprat, very, very funny portrayal, his entrances and costumes grew more dramatic and hilarious as the show progressed. I loved the scenes with son Jack, the Dirty Dancing scene in particular was inspired. Excellent slapstick.

Of course there has to be a baddie, our villain of the piece was the evil Queen Rat, Callie Burley, certainly brought the boos and hisses, larger than life baddie, over the top, “Whose Bad?” spot on.

Alderman Fitzwarren, Chris Knight; Suitably bossy and self important, seemingly appeared the second Dick and Alice were ever alone, chastising both I almost started shouting he's behind you as they met up on stage.

Fairy Bow Bells, Emma Phillips, sweetly sweet with a tough centre, watched over proceedings, guiding our heroes as required, I think the volume of the backing may have caused her issues on her second song not being able to hear herself to pitch the lower notes.

The comic interplay between Jack, his love interest Maisy, Melissa Hill and the womanising former pirate Captain Cutlass, Nick Holburn; was very funny to watch with the double-entendres slipping out at every opportunity, almost bordering on out right bawdy at some points.

Big round of applause to choreographers Sam Uche and Callie Burley. Great use of principal dancers, in the lead character numbers, the dancers always smiling when appropriate, were used really effectively, all engaged in their performances and enjoying being on stage which came across to the audience

Supporting cast members all contributed to make the scenes believable, good harmonies in the well chosen full cast numbers. Very able keyboard accompanist Alex Priestly.

Congratulations to Linda Gaunt's wardrobe department, the costumes and changes were fantastic. I remember using that same ship scenery in a panto myself, very slick set and strike required well done stage crew, not an easy one.

Produced and Directed by Ken Dawson and Jodie Swann, gave us a well thought out production, well sung popular songs from across the ages, which worked really well for the different age groups. The laughter was infectious. Great to see all of the cast engaged, the enjoyment on their faces convey so much to an audience.

We seemed to only get live voices from where we were sat on row A so not sure how the amplified voices were balanced or received higher in the auditorium, at times the soloists seemed to be fighting the level of the backing tracks on some songs from where we were sat.

Dick Whittington was a vibrant, grand and very lavish show, very enjoyable, Consistently good level of performance from BASE.

 

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