Dick Whittington and his Cat

A very warm welcome was extended to my sister and I by everyone, including the Chairman Anne Lane and Ann Blyther President upon our arrival at the Norbury Theatre.

The set for the streets of London were simple yet effective with flats of black and white buildings at each entrance which, when turned around, became the ship/Palace interior in the second half. I liked the cutout shapes of the London landmarks that rested against the rear cloth: they were easily recognizable.  The large cast limited the amount of set that could be put on the stage and this was managed well.

Some of the chorus opened the show with ‘Get Happy’ which they sang unaccompanied, and with confidence, until all the chorus had taken their place. It was nice to see the attention to detail applied to the costumes throughout the show and the use of traditional village style, but I did like their decision to ‘steampunk’ King Rat and Fairy Bowbells outfits. The dame’s dresses were gorgeous too, but there was a definite ‘ah’ moment when the small ballet school children made their entrance as Beefeaters; they were so cute and performed their dance sequence beautifully. Tommy the Cat’s face paint and costume was excellent, and Timothy Radford played the part well with a nice mix of skittishness and attitude.

The hardest working principle was Paul Steele who played Alderman Fitzwarren, Horatio Fitzwarren and the Emperor of Morocco, which was quite a feat, as he had to manage very quick costume changes, albeit, there was the odd pregnant pause. His spotlight moment came when he delivered a long piece of alliteration which was very impressive, especially when he repeated it in double quick time.

Lauren Bough made a feisty Alice Fitzwarren and was matched well by Jimmy Hill who played Dick Whittington. Their first duet, ‘Love is an open door’ was a perfect choice for them however I also liked the arrangement of ‘Happy Together’ which was backed by some of the female chorus. 

There was nice interaction between Emma Waters as Fairy Bowbells and Jesse Dutton as King Rat and their duet ‘Loathing’ was excellent. Both ladies gave confident performances and were well cast. Tom Collen was the flamboyant Dame Sarah whose amorous attentions to any male were rebuked to the amusement of the audience. Jack Gandy as Idle Jack also had a nice stage presence and I was very disappointed when he only sang the opening to ‘Only Human’. That was not expected and was really good.

The finale also held surprises as the enthusiastic ensemble sang ‘Rocking all over the World’, Jimmy stepped forward and was handed an electric guitar which, showed off his skill as a brilliant player.

Thank you very much for an enjoyable evening.

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