This isn’t a sponsored post.
BrumHour saw Jack and the Beanstalk at the invite of Birmingham Hippodrome.
For Brum Radio’s Interval Theatre, Alison Hammond spoke about her Brum Panto debut in Jack and The Beanstalk. Listen here:
By Dave Massey twitter.com/BrumHour
This pantomime contains buckets of water and plenty audience participation.
Panto Review: Jack and The Beanstalk at Birmingham Hippodrome
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐”Udderly silly Panto fun”
Directed by Michael Harrison, written by Harry Michaels and Matt Slack
The land of Old Brum on the Turn is hosting a royal variety performance curated by Princess Jill (Billie-Kay), but she faces the affections of Jack Trot (Alexanda O’Reilly) and his previously unreported older brother Jake Trot (Matt Slack). Elsewhere, Mrs. Blunderbore (Samantha Womack) tricks Jack into selling Dame Trot (Andrew Ryan)’s Cow (Doreen Tipton) for beans but The Spirit of the Beans (Alison Hammond) is on hand to provide magic to help them out of their situation.
Not that the plot really matters, this is a fun-filled one hour and fifty minutes (plus interval) which will keep anyone entertained, the jokes for the adults are very adult, whilst there are enough silly moments to keep kids busy. The script really allows each of the main cast their chance to shine as they stand on the stage by themselves facing nearly two thousand people.
Matt Slack gets several set pieces to show off his accents and linguistic tongue twisters. Professional Brummie Alison Hammond is fun, fun, fun, from start to finish. Matt and Alison’s friendship is great to see. Samantha Womack is a fantastic villain with her lovely singing and her own range of accents she, is much more playful than I’d expect to be as a serious proper actress.
Doreen Tipton shows off her comedy chops once more and her own vocals are just excellent as ever. Andrew Ryan is great as the Birmingham Dame in increasingly crazy outfits, whilst Brum Panto newbies Alexanda O’Reilly and Billie-Kay are excellent, Alexanda demonstrates his dancing, singing and even climbing skills, whilst Billie-Kay brings that West End feel to Birmingham.
This panto feels even bigger than any other Birmingham Hippodrome has done, using the stalls as part of the action and reaching the rafters! The sets are big, bright and bold with the band playing loudly.
If panto isn’t your thing then its a bit tough if you’ve got tickets, you will feel like everyone else is in on the joke. Oh and there are a lot of puns about cows, milk and beef!
Udderly silly Panto fun, Jack and the Beanstalk is at Birmingham Hippodrome until 28th January 2024. Book tickets here: birminghamhippodrome.com/calendar/jack-and-the-beanstalk.
