'Funny, cheeky, charming and clever' – Our five-star review of Birmingham Hippodrome's pantomime Jack and the Beanstalk
"Let’s banish her to Wolverhampton", booms Brummie Alison Hammond to a packed-out theatre as she makes her panto debut in the city while drawing laughs from an excitable home audience.
The larger-than-life personality is on home turf and she’s looking, sounding, and clearly feeling, comfortable.
"This is a honestly a dream come true for me," she tells the crowd in her first Birmingham panto run after wanting and waiting to perform on the Hippodrome's stage for many years.
In a touching tribute to her late mum Maria on stage, she reveals her first trip to the Hippodrome was to see West Side Story and she points at the pair sitting in the seats near to A15 before saying "and that there is her seat, I feel like she's with me tonight. I can feel her presence."
This emotional moment brings Alison full circle with the audience after a perfect, belly-laugh inducing pantomime performance of Jack and the Beanstalk.
Once again, this is without a doubt the UK's biggest regional panto for the festive season – and in it Alison (who can by the way both dance and sing) is playing The Spirit of the Beans.
So there's a huge beanstalk that emerges from the centre of the audience and grows up to the ceiling (that Jack actually climbs), an enormous moving, talking giant that commands the entire stage, there's fire and smoke, glitter, buckets of water, water pistols and an endless array of hilarious props, songs and jokes.
But what there also is, of course, is Matt Slack, who has returned once again as the real star of the show playing the unfortunate role of Jake, Jack's (much, much older) brother.
His comic genius, which includes hilarious impressions, crazy dance moves and an ability to get the whole theatre really laughing, is the backbone of this show.
The script constantly makes fun out of how Slack is not the main role this year and how he never 'gets the girl' at the end.
My daughter said: "Mummy, Jake (Slack's character) is so funny!" – and it's true. His ability to improvise with the audience is something to behold, especially at the end when he invites some youngsters from the audience up onto the stage for an unscripted section where we see that kids do truly say the funniest things.
So you've got Alison and Matt – and between the two of them they've got the evening covered. They provide all the panto magic needed for a much-deserved slice of happiness this festive season.
Highlights include their Strictly Come Dancing inspired routine which begins with a little Destiny's Child – including opening lines "Alison, can you handle this? Birmingham, can you handle this?" – and becomes more and more hilarious as the comedic duo dance through different tracks together even trying to lift each other up.
That's not to forget that star of stage and TV Samantha Womack is also in this panto - as the baddie Mrs Blunderbore. A really funny moment comes when her and Matt's characters list all of the celebrities she has worked with alongside impressions of each one as they go through the alphabet.
They are also joined by Doreen Tipton for the fifth year as Doreen the Cow. This is another way the Brummie pantomime gives mention to its Black Country neighbours as Doreen tells the audience she'll "close her eyes and think of Tipton".
Gill Jordan found fame for her role as Black County's very own Doreen with her comedic role portraying a benefits scrounger and self-professed "lazy cow" - and this panto audience truly loves her. Once again, her stunning vocals show a glimpse into the talent that lies under the slapstick, foolishness that makes these pantos a success each and every year.
Panto dame extraordinaire Andrew Ryan is also back and is the perfect central character for the others to bounce off and who is often, like Jake, the butt of the joke. Brummie local Alexanda O’Reilly is in the title role and West-End performer Billie-Kay is Princess Jill.
The plot loosely follows that of Jack and the Beanstalk but pull out sections like the Royal Variety Show, a short tribute to Matt Slack returning for the tenth-year (which is also really funny) and the alphabet impressions add so much more. The plot in itself makes fun of how the story goes off track for these funny sections that are purely to get the audience laughing.
This panto is just the best-of-the-best. It's funny, cheeky, charming and clever – and it's for all the family.
The show is running until Sunday, January 28. Tickets start from £18. To book visit https://www.birminghamhippodrome.com/calendar/jack-and-the-beanstalk/
