Dick Whittington & The Secret of Skull Island

Who knew, that after 10 years as Lord Mayor of London, Dick and his family and friends moved to the Caribbean island of Porto Aldrigo to restore order following years of exploitation by pirates? Well now you do!

The audience were treated to an entertaining evening from a very enthusiastic cast, led by Mark Newman (Dick Whittington) and Sarah Beckett as his wife Alice. Humour was scattered throughout the cast, with the main protagonists being Bonnie Brown, played by Lucy Pountain who was from Brownhills (not Birmingham!) and Richard Beckett as Sally Sugar. Both gave the audience plenty to laugh at and played their parts with confidence.

Emma Wallage as the High Priestess was very commanding on stage and left no one in doubt of who the villain was, her partner in crime, Captain Bloodbeard (Michael Mannion) also gave the audience plenty to boo at! Mark Nicholls (Jack Starling), Derek Somers (Mr Wilson) and Gaynor White (Angelica Marley) all gave confident performances as their respective characters, helping the plot to move along.

Highlights, for me, of the vocal selections in the show, came in the second half from Peter Brown, as Father Michael, singing Stars, and Charlotte Mannion (Voodoo Lady) singing Hello, both sang with a lovely tone and captivated the audience with their performance. There were also confident performances from William Bosworth (Sam Stark), Helen Jolly (Lily Lannister), Helen Bodley (Bertha Burns) and Amelia  and Nickiy Critchley along with Heidi Gottschall as Rip, Van and Winkle. There was a surprising touch of using a skull, Edna, as a running ‘gag’ throughout the pantomime, this was well voiced by Emma Padley.  The whole cast was well supported by a well-drilled chorus who were acting throughout their time on stage, well done to you all.

Mention must go to Sarah Beckett for her choreography, this was very well executed by all on stage and showed that time was well spent in rehearsals. The combo in the pit of Keyboards, Bass and Drums was very well directed by Mark Bayliss, and performed well arranged songs with confidence. The balance of sound was well controlled and nothing over powered any of the performers. The costumes and scenery certainly added to the show, bringing vibrancy and colour to the show, enhanced by an impressive lighting plot.  Scene changes were well managed and went mainly unnoticed.

I was impressed by the way that the show captivated the younger members of the audience, however, I feel that the show was probably a fraction too long as some of them did start to lose interest towards the end of the evening.

Congratulations to Mark and everyone involved on putting on a very entertaining and enjoyable show. Well done to all.

 

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