"Jack And The Beanstalk" by Kristian Thomas Company.

Duchess Theatre, Long Eaton.

After missing KTco's 2021 pantomime, I was adamant that I was not going to miss out on this year's show. And I am so glad that I didn't.

Written by James Peake and Kristian Cunningham, it tells the story of Jack Trott, Jill and the giant, Grot Snot MaGoo and his evil henchperson, Madame Mouldspore who abducts Mimsy the cow, Ryan the Gosling and Sharpay up to the giant's castle.

Dame Arabbiatta Trott had sent Jack to market to sell Mimsy to the highest bidder so that they could pay their energy bill when Mouldspore hypnotised Jack into accepting a bag of tinned beans for the cow. The rest you all know.....

Local panto productions can sometimes be a bit hit and miss, but knowing the quality of KTco's productions, this lived up to their reputation and is a resounding hit.

The sets are wonderfully constructed and designed with an excellent light design, operated by Helen Blakeman. Dimmed and menacing lighting for Mouldspore's scenes, and bright and colourful for the other scenes. The choreographed pieces were, at times almost clubby, which matched the great, pumping sound for the show, operated by Phil Simcox.

Loved the costumes for all these characters, especially Dame Trott, and the giant was actually quite gigantic. Sometimes you just hear a booming voice, but here you get the real giant on stage, bringing realism to the fantasy.

There are some brilliant new jokes written for this production along with some classic old jokes. Some I felt didn't quite hit the mark, but on the whole the audience lapped up and appreciated the comedy crammed into this production. I was surprised that the "Les Miserables' "Castle In The Clouds" joke went un-noticed!

There are two teams of youngsters; Team Runner Bean and Team Baked Bean. The team I saw was Team Runner Bean. James Been (Young Jack) heads both teams and Effie Lennon Ballard and Grace Hindle share the role of Young Jill.

Natasha Cartwright (Fairy Fall) has a lovely sense of comedy, reminding me of a cross between Stacy Solomon and Su Pollard. Loved the broad Derby accent, the setting being Elvaston, and even more, I love Natasha's voice which started those tingles on the back of my neck.

Siân Scattergood Grantham (Madame Mouldspore) is an excellent evil pantomime character, and until I looked in the programme, I didn't even recognise her. Mouldspore is a real nasty piece of work which I imagine Sian had an absolute ball bringing her to the stage. Wonderful costume, make-up and physicality.

Anthony Beaumont-Mills (Jack Trott) is a real triple threat find. I have not seen Anthony before but as soon as he stepped on stage you were captivated by his stage presence. He has one of those voices that would sound great coming out of any speaker. It's modern and has a very natural range. A talented young actor who can deal with choreography well and has boy band looks.

Emily Corner and Millie Gilks (Mimsy the Cow) worked heifer so well together and didn't milk the role at all.

Megan Singleton (Jill) looked and sounded lovely and also brought a more modern panto woman to the stage, refusing to be type cast by allowing Jack, or her Father, Duke Luke, marry her off. A nice twist to the normal female panto stereotype.

Lu Anthony (Loopy Lou) plays Jack's brother and they provide another update to the standard panto "silly Billy" style character. They confirm the pronoun Lou goes by and bring a wonderfully camp character right up to date. They have a lovely sense of comedy timing, something that Lu has honed over the years. There really is no character that Lu can't bring to the stage perfectly, oh and I loved the really naughty joke Lu came out with in the "beans" section that only a few of us in the audience practically choked on!

Kheenan Jones (Duke Luke) also got to show his comic delivery side, which we don't often get to see. Hopefully in 2023 we may get to see Keenan do more comedy. As usual, he smashes the part he plays.

Chris Grantham (Dame Arabbiatta Trott) is wonderful as Dame. Playing Dame is possibly the hardest theatre role in panto; I've spoken to enough actors who have donned the Dame frock who have told me the pitfalls of Damedom. Chris is great fun to watch, and such a change from seeing him perform in serious musical theatre.

David Page (Ryan the Gosling) is another new name and face to me, but once more, a real theatrical find. Very camp character which gives rise to some great script writing surrounding ducks, geese, Ryan Gosling and the even work in an airline in there as well. A great panto character brought to life by an actor to look out for in 2023.

Ella Greenwood (Sharpay) - do I detect an HSM connection here? We get to hear Ella's incredible vocal range in this role as the classically trained Sharpay who wants to become Britney,Whitney or Christina.

And finally we get to Giant Grot Snot MaGoo, played by Bailey West. We do not get to see Bailey underneath that amazing, massive costume. You must admire how he manages to facilitate his costume without it toppling over as it towered above the whole cast.

This wonderful panto was directed by Kristian Cunningham and Tom Samuels with Tom Bond in charge of the music direction. The song choices really worked with the characters and actor's vocal skills, especially "World Of Our Own" and the gorgeous "Run". I also liked how some of the lyrics were amended to match the panto, especially "Allergies", a parody of Steps "Tragedy".

Lydia Thacker's choreography looked great performed by this large adult and young ensemble and cast, making an enjoyable and exciting watch.

I mentioned the lighting earlier on and this was designed by James Cladingboel and the sound design is by Harry Greatorex.

Showing that local theatre can indeed match the professionalism of any big theatre pantos, and they don't need well known names to get bums on seats, Kristian Thomas Company have produced a wonderful show that will have you laughing and loving this cast and this show.

"Jack and the Beanstalk" is at the Duchess Theatre until Saturday 3 December.

 "Dick Whittington"

Nottingham Playhouse.

Theatre goers of Nottingham have grown so used to the Playhouse pantomime being written by Kenneth Alan Taylor that to replace Kenneth as the writer, with Adam Penford, was a brave step for Adam. It was a decision though that was proven to be a very successful decision.

The whole feel of the production is extra shiny, ultra-glittery and booster injected with energy.

From the moment you walk through those auditorium doors, you're slapped around the face by the explosion of glitter and colour of the set, designed by Mark Walters. Every set change reveals a more intricate and colourful vision to be devoured by the eyes.

I don't need to tell you the story of Dick Whittington but what I will say is that Adam Penford has written a modern, saucy, camp and funny version of the classic panto story. With all of the best pantos, the comedy is pitched at two levels. The silly comedy, like the opening fart gag with Billy, aimed at the kids, and then the more adult comedy for the mums and dads; and there are plenty of double-entendres for Dick fans!

There are old "groan" jokes in there but there are also lots of jokes that I had not heard before, especially the joke about swallowing Scrabble tiles (Don't try this at home kids).

The music choices span the decades and genres with generous helpings of musical theatre songs, " Sit Down You're Rocking The Boat", " Timeless To Me", a brilliant version of "Don't Rain On My Parade", classic oldies like "Rock The Boat", "Satisfaction" and "Sweet Caroline", and a smattering of more modern songs like "Butterfly", "Love On Top" and an amazing version of Mariah Carey's "Hero", again covering all ages.

There are no dancing bunnies, there are some woodland animals who sing and rats that scamper all over the set, and there is a brilliant neon fluorescent underwater scene with glow in the dark fish, swimmers and an enormous octopus, after the shipwreck scene. Pure magic.

There's also a lovely section of animated videography to tell the back story of why King Rat is the nasty piece of work that he appears to be

John Ellington (Sarah The Cook) is his usual naughty self with those near the knuckle jokes. But he is also loved by the kids for his child like appeal. He is the ultimate Dame, and like every well-respected Dame he has several costume changes; I counted eleven, each one more outrageous than the previous. His saucy jokes were well received by the sharper audience members as well as some of the more mature (in age) audience members. I especially appreciated the joke about the runny egg and the sailors... very naughty, but very funny.

Lisa Ambalavanar (Dick Whittington) returns for the triple principal panto role at the Playhouse, and she rapidly gets the audience on her side, with her warmth and voice, proving that we all love Dick. And we all love Lisa as well.

Rosanna Bates (Alice Fitzwarren) is a new name and face to me and a lovely addition to the Playhouse panto family.

Danny Hendrix (Silly Billy) really whips the audience up, and by doing this, gets them on his side, especially when Alice rebukes his proposal, and received a torrent if boos. Danny's energy levels are to be applauded, as well as his ability to keep that big grin on his face, except when the green-eyed monster rears its ugly head when Dick is around. Like Lisa, Danny is local, and it's always nice to see local talent on stage.

Ewan Ling (Tom the Cat) injects street wise sass, incorporating modern chat bruv, and spits bars with ease. Ewan also gets to show his sax appeal during his brilliant version of "Don't Rain On My Parade", which almost brought the house down. A talented addition to Nottingham panto. What's new pussycat? Ewan Ling is.

TJ Lloyd (Alderman Fitzwarren) is another actor who injects energy whenever he arrives on stage. He reminded me slightly of a younger Biggins with his personality, but has a far superior singing voice than Biggins, as showcased in his duet with John in, one of my favourite musical theatre songs from "Hairspray", "Timeless To Me".

Natalie Winsor (Fairy Brownells) brings that lovely Cockney feel to the panto. What she also delivers is a powerful set of vocals, in particular with a spine-tingling version of "Hero".

And finally, the baddie of the panto, King Rat, played deliciously evil by Christopher Chandler. I commented in the interval that if a certain ex glam rocker had played King Rat, this is what he would be like. Wide eyed, arrogant, commanding of attention, dressed in black, sneering but loving that people were reacting to his act. One of the best King Rats that I have seen in a very long time.

Adam Penford, as Director, has put together a wonderful cast and a very modern and stylish piece of Christmas fare. I was just a bit worried that he wouldn't have matched up to his panto writing predecessor but my fretting was misplaced because this panto continues, and surpasses the previous Playhouse pantos.

I enjoyed the blatant sponsors promotion, which had been written in to the script quite naturally. I also enjoyed the fresh topical humour, as well as the obvious targets for political humour, all staple panto fare but this time delivered with well timed humour.

And I must also not forget another Nottingham Playhouse panto regular, to which Playhouse panto would not be quite the same; Uncle Johnny Morton and his band, providing a powerful musical accompaniment.

As usual, amazingly eye-catching costumes by Mark Walters, wonderful choreography by Donna Berlin, and a punchy sound design by Adam Fisher with sparkling lighting by Sally Ferguson.

Two and a half hours of the best panto fun this year to date. Come and get your fill of Dick with this mouth wateringly fun show. You didn't expect me to pussy foot around with my words, did you?

"Dick Whittington" will be at the Nottingham Playhouse until Saturday 14 January 2023.

 "Mother Courage and Her Children" by Bertolt Brecht.

West Bridgford Dramatic Society.

The Studio, West Bridgford.

It's been a while since last seeing this story played out on stage, and it's so lovely to see it once more performed on a Nottingham stage. It has a serious message, asks many questions but also has a great deal to smile and laugh about. It's been dubbed one of the most important and influential plays of the 20th Century.

With Brecht though you have to slightly scramble your theatrical brain as an audience member because at times his plays seem disjointed and you have to really use your brain, as well as your imagination to get the full Brecht understanding. This is no exception but once you tune your brain to his wavelength, you then really get the message and start to enjoy the message and the comedy.

"Mother Courage and Her Children", written in 1939, is the anti-war stage-play, with a few additions of music, written by exiled German dramatist Bertolt Brecht. Set in seventeenth-century Europe, the play follows Anna Fierling, known as Mother Courage, a woman who operates a rolling canteen business during the Thirty Years War. Along with her three children, Anna travels across Europe, selling goods from a canteen wagon to locals and alcohol to soldiers. While Anna vows to keep her children safe from the war, in the end, she finds herself poor, childless, and alone. The play takes place over the course of twelve years, depicted in twelve scenes.

Directed by Barbara Seymour, she clearly understands what Brecht was all about and brought out the character in the twenty characters we see on stage. Barbara is assisted in this role by Roxana Ciurean. I love how the characters break that fourth wall by interacting with the audience members, drawing them into the play, as well as getting Mother Courage to hand out sweets to the close audience members. The comedy shows echoes of "Blackadder" in parts.

Dom Gaskell is the narrator within the play, dressed resplendent in bow tie and evening suit, moving the narrative of the play along throughout the twelve years.

Mother Courage is a matriarchal powerhouse of a woman and played wonderfully by Lynn Burgess. At times overpowering, especially with her daughter Kattrin, but this is all because she wants to protect her, especially when you discover the back story with her daughter. Fierling was a strong woman, not devoid of emotion, but she was not going to be romantically blackmailed by any man, as we witness in a scene with the Chaplain. Brilliantly acted with passion.

Robert Dixon plays several roles but we first see him as an army recruiter, immediately zoning in on one of Mother Courage's sons, Eilif, bullying and cajoling him until he opts for the army life over following his Mother.

The insulting and disrespectful Seargeant is played by Adrian Bacon, plus doubling up on other roles.

Eilif, the son who enlists into the army is played by Calum Sharp. he also plays other roles throughout, and some nice accents portrayed with these other characters.

James Wallace played the other son, Swiss Cheese; the reason for the name is explained by the way! I love a strong accent and James delivers a cracker of an accent for Cheese. His other roles also give James a chance to highlight his ear for accents also. A lovely cheeky bit of acting as Cheese.

Margarita Papadopoulou for me gave one of the best performances of the play as the dumb Kattrin. Imagine having the overwhelming fear of war to live through and to not be able to express your feelings through speech. The anguish is well depicted by Margarita and you understand every emotion she shows, without uttering a word, only by sounds and facial expressions.

Malcolm Todd plays the Cook, who has an eye for Mother Courage, but doesn't push the emotional side. I always enjoy watching Malcolm as he always looks so confident in whatever role he plays.

Stephen Herring plays the Chaplain, and what a slightly greyish side this man of the cloth has. And whoever said that honesty was the best policy, had forgotten to tell this religious man, because several times he told little white ones, and he broke several of the ten commandments.

I've only recently become a fan of this group's work, mainly because I've only recently started reviewing their productions, but I've become a firm fan of Amanda Pearce and her roles. In this production she plays Yvette, a slightly dubious character, but such a fun script Yvette has, and Amanda's delivery of said script is paced perfectly; I love her tone of voice. Amanda also gets to play other roles as well in "Mother Courage".

And last, but by no means least is Tim Farrow who plays The Colonel as well as other roles.

A brilliantly put together cast, who clearly have enjoyed working on this production and with each other.

A set that requires a bit of imagination investment from the audience, but that does not come as difficult due to the story-telling abilities of this cast, but the props and costumes here are brilliantly constructed, sourced and utilised. And you know that I love those little details and the dining scene has real food and there is real liquid used throughout for drinking purposes. Gold stars all round!

The music used in the production, as well as the music played before the show started, during the interval and as the audience were leaving the auditorium created, and carried through right to the end the feel of the play. These and the sound effects used were all well executed by the Sound Operator Vanessa Banks.

Look out as well for the Ukranian artwork by Sasha Izotova and Olena Kvach.

While this play was written in 1939, there are so many similarities with the Ukraine situation that is ongoing and that in itself shows what an important and forward-looking writer Brecht was, and that is why his plays are still often performed and still has a message to deliver.

"Mother Courage and Her Children" will be at The Studio, West Bridgford until Saturday 26 November, but you may be hard pushed to get a ticket as it's almost sold out.

 "White Christmas"

Nottingham Theatre Royal.

This is a brand-new CURVE theatre, Leicester production of the Irving Berlin Christmas classic from 1954.

Veterans Bob Wallace (Jay McGuiness) and Phil Davis (Dan Burton) have a successful song-and-dance act after World War II. With romance in mind, the two follow a duo of beautiful singing sisters, Betty and Julie Haynes (Jessica Daley and Monique Young), en route to their Christmas show at a Vermont lodge, which just happens to be owned by Bob and Phil's former army commander, General Henry Waverley (Michael Starke). The lodge is run by Martha (Lorna Luft).

The inn is not doing great business, unbeknown to Waverley, so when Bob, Phil and the Haynes Sisters discover this, they decide to put on a show to draw in the crowds and boost the coffers. But there's some confusion when Betty overhears something and gets the wrong end of the stick, and plans start to unravel. Can Bob save the day and get the girl?

Bing Crosby and Danny Kaye are massive boots to fill and what always worried me in the film was that Bing was so much older than Danny and getting involved with young girls; I'm sure that Bing didn't mind.

In this production Bob is the younger of the two, whereas in the film he was the elder, and the wingman, Phil is the elder.

Dan Burton has a list of musical theatre successes as long as his arm, having been in stage musicals since 2006, and this experience shows in the singing and dancing stakes, and while Jay McGuiness is a confident dancer, and of course, known for his singing with The Wanted, the experience shown by Dan did slightly overshadow the slightly less experienced McGuiness in these stakes.

This is not a knock at Jay because maybe in another ten years' time he will have the gained experience to play a role like Bob Wallace, especially against a dancer with the experience of Dan Burton. Jay has been performing professionally in musical theatre for around six years, but has a song and dance background having trained at the Midlands Academy of Dance and Drama (MADD) here in Nottingham. Plus without facial hair, Jay looks so young, expanding the age gap.

There's a nice contrast in Dan's and Jay's voices though and while Dan's is more musical theatre, Jay has such a sweet, emotive voice, highlighted brilliantly when singing "How Deep Is The Ocean". His harmonising skills of being in a boy band come into force well in this musical. Probably without Jay realising, I think he is going to pick up so many tips from this cast and make him such a strong musical theatre leading man, because with his talents and looks, he is made for leading man status. And I still rate his "Pulp Fiction" jive as the best on Strictly to date.

Lorna Luft is a legend, full stop. Having a mother of the calibre of Judy Garland, you'd expect a powerhouse of a voice. Listening to Lorna you can hear Judy's tone and inflections, but has a lovely deeper tone blended in, which matches so well with this role as concierge with attitude. I've known of Lorna's voice since the 1980's when, as a local mobile DJ, I used to play her dance version of "Where The Boys Are", so it's an honour to see this legend on stage. I adored her version of "Let Me Sing And I'm Happy" featured in this production; a proper old school hat and cane song and dance number.

Michael Starke is an actor that I always look forward to seeing on stage; you know that he is a solid actor. I've seen Michael in "Waitress", where he played the owner of the diner with an American accent, and now he is the owner of the inn, with an American accent. I've also seen Michael in "Hairspray" and loved that as well. Michael can sing but doesn't get much of a chance in "White Christmas" as "Hank", but a wonderful character-driven performance, and lovely to see that smile and twinkle in his eye again. One of the business's gentlemen on and off stage.

The Haynes Sisters are a coupling made in heaven, both with gorgeous voices as a duo and separately. When Jessica Daley, as Betty, sang "Love, You Didn't Do Me Right", I just melted. With Monique, as Julie, I loved the fun, up-tempo "I Love A Piano" with Dan. You can see why Dan and Phil would fall for these "Sisters", which sounded amazing when sung by Jessica and Monique.

Lucy Warway, as Susie, sorry Susan, sorry Broadway Sue, is a dynamite of a performer as the General's Granddaughter who just wants to be a star, like Martha. Brilliant confidence and stage presence.

The cast is completed by Simon Anthony, Tom Bales, Lydia Bannister, George Beet, Imogen Bowtell, Isabel Canning, Gabrielle Cocca, Joseph Craig, Beth Devine, Steve Fortune, Ashton Harkness, Connor Hughes, Owen McHugh, Benjamin Mundy, James Revell, Sadie-Jean Shirley, Matthew Sweet, David Winters and Alex Wright.

Directed by Ian Talbot, with the original Direction by Nikolai Foster. This show makes you feel festive and we even get a smattering of snow in the audience. It makes you want to go and toast marshmallows and drink hot coffee with cream and chocolate sprinkles. This show has kick started Christmas. I love the little finer touches and I did notice that there was no liquid in the champagne glasses for the foursome; they drank and the level never reduced. I imagine though that this would be in case any liquid was spilt on the stage - health and safety understood!

Stephen Mear's choreography is everything that you would expect from a Hollywood blockbuster musical. It has class, style, panache written all over the dance routines, made even more special by just being feet away from your very eyes. It gives you Christmas tingles. I love a good tap sequence and you get a marvellous tap section in "I Love A Piano" and Hollywood glamour with "Let Yourself Go", but let's face it, every choreographed piece is a hit in this show.

The set design is by Michael Taylor, and as with the choreography, it's Hollywood on stage. It has the WOW! factor.

Costumes for this show have the utmost class. It's set between 1944 and 1954 so the style is there. Tuxedos, starched white shirts, bow ties, and the most glamorous of frocks and dresses for the ladies. Everything matched, even the green socks and jacket for Bob and the plum socks and jacket for Phil. Diego Pitarch has ticked every costume box for me in this stylish show.

Musical Direction is by Ben Van Tienen, and it's so lovely to hear such a lush, rounded sound that filled the theatre, swept you up and carried you away on a sea of musical loveliness. You can't beat hearing a quality orchestra live.

The musical features the classic songs "How Deep Is The Ocean", "Blue Skies", "Sisters", "Count Your Blessings", "I Love A Piano", "I've Got My Love To Keep Me Warm", "Happy Holidays", "Let Yourself Go" and of course, "White Christmas".

If you want to get yourself in the festive mood, then you could do a lot worse than seeing this classic show. Bring on the holly and mistletoe, I'm ready!

"White Christmas" will be at the Nottingham Theatre Royal until Saturday 26 November, but get your tickets fast as everyone wants to see this magical piece of Christmas fare.