Dick Whittington – The Rock ‘N Roll Panto, Leeds City Varieties

I ALWAYS think Christmas starts for me with a visit to the panto, and what a Christmas cracker this one is. A hugely talented cast, fabulous set design and 110 per cent enthusiasm from all the performers makes this one of the best family pantos for the public of West Yorkshire.

The show has all the traditions associated with pantomime, the costumes, the gags, the men dressed as women, but this really is panto with a difference. The music is a huge part of the show and really gets the whole audience rocking in the aisles, regardless of age.

If they are not personally singing or acting at the time, each of the actors plays an instrument as part of the band and every number is a sing-a-long classic with well known songs from the 60s through to the 90s, and even including that 1977 punk classic from the Sex Pistols of Pretty Vacant.

There is only a cast of ten, no dancers, no chorus, but this in no way detracts. In fact, at the City Varieties the stage size is very limited and where I have seen groups trying to put on productions with a chorus the stage has always appeared overcrowded. And this leads me on nicely to the terrific set design by Sean Turner. Sean has slightly extended the stage and put in balcony area above the main stage and this has made the world of difference.

The usual characters are in this production, Dick, Alice Fitzwarren, Sarah the Cook, Billy Bungalow, Alderman Fitzwarren, Fairy Bow Bells, King Rat, Taffeta the Cat and the two Rats – Smallpox and Scurvey. From these it is very difficult to single out any individuals for specific praise as they all collectively play such a major part in the production.

While this was very much a panto for the kids, there were enough innuendos and double-entendres sprinkled into the script to keep the adults highly amused as well. And while very few of the jokes were new, they were delivered with such good timing by the cast that it didn’t really matter that they had probably been used on the City Varieties stage by Max Miller over 80 years ago.

This was a great night out and the public of Leeds and West Yorkshire have another month in which to catch this brilliant production as it runs until Sunday, January 11. To book go to cityvarieties.co.uk/Online/ or ring 0113 2430808. Don’t miss it!

by John Burland