Dick Whittington, London Palladium 2017

...it won't be easy, he'll think it strange...

I can't decide whether Julian will be dressed as Barbara Dickson or Susan Boyle.

Aaaaand we're off!








Oh. The mystery of the missing tweet.....it was here a minute ago.

This has alot to follow after Cinderella, which was amazing, one of the highlights of my Christmas last year! I'll never forget Paul O'Grady walking through the door with a crazy wig and sunglasses, hungover. I get a bit bored of the Diversity routines, but at least Count Arthur Strong isn't anywhere near this one (god awful, what a mess!).

Other than that, the cast are great and I have high hopes.

I saw this to... I can't imagine that duet, but in the way I don't think it will be good, I just wanna see it! 😂

Finally Emma gets her shots released!

The front curtain and stage look amazing based on instagram!

Just made it home from the Palladium, and whilst it definitely is a good show, I have to say that sadly I'm somewhat disappointed overall.

One of my major gripes is Paul Zerdin. He's great, but his piece is exactly the same year on year. Other than the addition of one very "current" joke, he brought nothing new. Which I think is a massive shame as he is immensely talented and has so much other material that he could use, but instead he sticks to the same jokes and the same routines, year after year.

Elaine Paige was also a massive disappointment for me. She's just not a villain. For me, she just didn't pull it off one bit. Struggled vocally and diction was poor, I felt.

Nigel Havers was fab. A lot of the jokes centred around his small part last year and how he wanted a bigger part this time, and that he got!

Gary Wilmot is a really great dame. He used the "sweet cart" routine that he's done before (I saw him do it in Birmingham) but the difference between him and Paul is that he changes some lines and adapts it so that it's not just a complete repeat from previous years. He also added some new material, including a song about the London Underground...which brought the house down and probably got the biggest cheer of the night.

Diversity are very good, talented lads for sure...but it just didn't fit. I know panto is never the most flowing of shows, but I did feel that their sections really broke the flow.

Charlie Stemp and Emma Williams give lovely performances. They have great chemistry from their time in Half A Sixpence, and there are a few references to that, including a Flash Bang Wallop-inspired musical number.

Julian Clary absolutely steals the show. He has the audience in the palm of his hand from curtain up to curtain down, with an endless supply of bell-themed humour.

There was also an unexpected cameo from
So in summary, whilst it is a solid pantomime, I think for me it's the weakest Qdos presentation that I've seen (others are Cinderella at the Palladium last year, and Robinson Crusoe, Snow White, Jack and the Beanstalk, Aladdin, and Dick Whittington at B'ham Hipp), based on the disjointed and lacking story - even by panto standards - and the lack of fresh material. Though the latter may be partially my fault for seeing multiple Michael Harrison-directed pantos each year.

Cinderella was definitely a lot stronger, a point which I overheard others echoing on the way out. I think they'll need a strong title and casting next year to sustain the momentum. My guess would probably be Snow White, but we'll see.

Full cast as follows:

Spirit of the Bells: Julian Clary
Queen Rat: Elaine Paige
The Sultan: Ashley Banjo
The Sultan's Special Advisors: Diversity
Idle Jack: Paul Zerdin
Captain Nigel: Nigel Havers
Sarah Fitzwarren: Gary Wilmot
Dick Whittington: Charlie Stemp
Alice Fitzwarren: Emma Williams
Eileen the Cat: Lukus Alexander

Ensemble: Lucy Banfield, Faye Best, Callum Clark, Matt Cox, Rachael Crocker, Lisa Darnell, Ivan De Freitas, Ross Finnie, Louis Gaunt, Diana Girbau, James-Lee Harris, Abigayle Honeywell, Kevin Jack, Jemima Loddy, Rebekah Lowings, James Paterson, Oliver Ramsdale, Sam Salter, Carrie Sutton, Ed Wade, Annie Wensak, Anna Woodside.

Band is 3 keys, guitar, bass/double bass, drums, percussion, 2 trumpet/flugel horn, alto sax/tenor sax/flute, trombone, bass trombone.

As much as I love panto and did have a good time, I don't think I can give it more than three stars this time. If any deals appear towards the end of the run, I'd like to return for a second viewing to see if my opinion changes.

I'm going next Wednesday and looking forward to it. Loved Cinderella last year but did feel it would be difficult to equal or top.

I don't usually usher and haven't for this production but often I think it's up to the producers to set the rules which Front of House staff follow. I will certainly feed it back though.
I am sorry to hear about it though, sounds annoying!

Just shows how subjective it is dannypc - I have to agree with daniel, in that I enjoyed last year's far more. I found this more disjointed - largely a consequence of fitting all the 'specialities' into the piece, which Cinderella also suffered from but not to the same degree - less funny and, while certainly packed with spectacle, it somehow left me cold. I didn't hate it... just, a bit meh really.

Thanks Daniel, I'm glad I didn't bother with tickets now. Cinderella was quite a disappointment last year for me. Yes the cast were mostly great but it was overlong without much story and what there was was disjointed. Sure panto doesn't have the most in-depth stories but that makes it even worse when it's altered so heavily to fit the stars in.

Best panto I've seen in recent years was Jack and the beanstalk in Southampton about 4 or 5 years ago. It was a real ensemble piece but with a still flowing story and people (Clary, mead, havers, and zerdin) still getting chance to shine