Jack and the Beanstalk - New Wimbledon Theatre Review

Reviewed by Amelia Bascombe
Tickets were gifted in return for an honest review

Back for another stellar panto season, Jack and the Beanstalk is this year’s production to take over the New Wimbledon Theatre for the festive period. With writer Alan McHugh and co-director and choreographer Stephen Mear at the helm, this show promises to raise your spirits right up to the castle in the clouds. Packing in an almighty cast, ginormous special effects and one Joe Pasquale flying over the audience on a moped, surely this is a panto not to be missed.

The company. Photo by Danny Kaan.

Jack and the Beanstalk is a well-known and easy to follow story with magic beans, cows and giants in the sky. This hysterical production adds in Ceri Dupree as Jack’s mother, ‘Dame Trot’ and Joe Pasquale as his brother, ‘Silly Simon’, who really are a duo for the ages, constantly trying to break each other and cause chaos on stage. Both pantomime veterans, their chemistry and comedic timing was a joy to watch and provided the best humorous moments in the show. 

They bounced off well with Benjamin Yates as ‘Jack’, who despite giving some serious vocals and hero energy, also completely cracked around the afore mentioned pair. A scene which seemed to consist of about two lines, became a 5-minute ordeal with all three absolutely losing it. This is exactly what we look for in a pantomime and provides more hilarity that scripted jokes themselves.

Not to be confused with the Jack and Jill nursery rhyme, ‘Princess Jill’ and ‘Jack’ go on an adventure to slay the giant and ensure the safety of their animals. ‘Jill’ is played wonderfully by Cabaret star Natalie Chua, who does the best with what she’s been given. She doesn’t have too many opportunities to go above and beyond with the character, but her voice is a dream to listen to and she really came out of her shell with the unruly ‘Twelve Days of Christmas’ rendition.

Helmed as the star of the show, despite the character not being in the original story, Alexandra Burke, fresh off a summer as Deloris Van Cartier, was giving us pure villain realness as ‘Mrs Blunderbore’. She gave a little snippet of ‘Bad Boy’s’ at the top of Act 1 and opened Act 2 with the full version, which was such a treat to hear. It was fun to see her tap into that more evil, mischievous side having seen her in roles like ‘Rachel Marron’ in The Bodyguard and the ‘Narrator’ in Joseph. Some lucky audiences may have already caught Burke playing the same role at the London Palladium in 2022. I won’t ruin the end to her story here, but that absolute banger she released as her winner’s single after winning the X Factor is included in this show, and it slays.

Alexandra Burke. Photo by Danny Kaan.

Now, no panto would be complete without some random ‘spirit’ character to help us keep up with the plot, and we’ve been blessed here with musical theatre legend Ria Jones. Born in Wales to an opera singer mother and cabaret performer dad, Ria Jones is an internationally renowned West End star, lighting up the Wimbledon stage with her elegance and class. We get a taste of her outrageously good vocals throughout the show, but her highlight for me was a tongue twister scene with Dupree and Pasquale.

The final twister that she delivered was like a magic trick and she earned herself a massive applause. She rounded off such a brilliant cast who all, quite obviously, love working together which is so nice to see.

The ensemble are working hard let me tell you; the choreography is poised and concise, and brilliantly performed by each person on the stage. Whether it’s chorus line kicking chicken’s, glow in the dark butterflies, or Alexandra Burke’s backing dancers, the 8 performers are making sure they aren’t being forgotten to the plot and making the most of the stage time they have.

If you ever wondered what they did with the 20 feet tall, 2,400 lbs King Kong puppet built for Broadway in 2018, I think it’s been shipped over and painted as a giant for this production. Seriously, the special FX, Twins FX, in this show were way beyond my expectations and exceeded a lot of pantomimes I’ve seen this year. Made all the better by lighting designer Richard G Jones, who really set the tone for the whole piece with some engaging and striking lighting choices. The story was further enhanced by the cohesion of all these effects and the striking end product that was produced.

Joe Pasquale. Photo by Danny Kaan.

I must say, I wish there a couple more well-known songs from this year, as we’ve had some great bangers that could’ve fit super well into this show. I did love the Cher reference, but I won’t spoil that for you! It is interesting visiting lots of different pantos in a short time period as they do recycle a lot of the jokes for each show/venue. I can appreciate that most normal don’t tend to see more than one or two a year, and so that can be overlooked.

The New Wimbledon Theatre has a reputation for putting on quality pantos, and it is clear from the way both children and adults get involved and immersed here that they are having a magical time. Jack and the Beanstalk plays from now until the 5th of January.

Tickets for Jack and the Beanstalk are available from https://www.atgtickets.com/shows/jack-and-the-beanstalk/new-wimbledon-theatre/