The festivities are in full swing and with panto season upon us, it was time to head to the Mayflower Theatre for this year's pantomime, The London Palladium Production of Dick Whittington which will be gracing the stage in Southampton until January 6th.
Dick Whittington features a whole host of familiar faces including Joe McElderry, Suzanne Shaw and my personal fave, Bobby Davro. It's fun, frolics and dirty jokes from beginning to end so us adults can enjoy the show just as much as the children and without any "what's that?" questions!
I honestly cannot wait to take Joshua for his very first pantomime at Christmas!
Taking our seats in the theatre, we were greeted with twinkling lights and an incredible set full of colour and sparkle. The opening scene saw King Rat played by Steve McFadden and his army of rats who have taken over London before the stage is overtaken by a huge, mechanical rat that looked so lifelike it was almost quite scary with piercing red eyes and huge ratty tail.
Steve McFadden was brilliant as King Rat and the audience did their best BOO all the way through.
We couldn't let King Rat win could we?!
The cast really is fabulous, Joe McElderry made a great and loveable Dick Whittington while Suzanne Shaw is the perfectly sweet Alice Fitzwarren. As I mentioned above, my favourites were Bobby Davro who played Idle Jack and Andrew Ryan playing Sarah the Cook. Both are dab hands at panto and the pair together was brilliant. The donkey scene was definitely my favourite and had the audience in fits of giggles, myself included.
The costumes were stunning, colourful and beautifully over the top. I would've loved to have a nose inside the wardrobe department and I bet it was so much fun creating each and every one. Andrew Ryan's were the most fun and elaborate, full of sequins, glitter and mismatched boobs!
It was a laugh a minute and when you could take your eyes off the stars of the show for a second or two then the supporting cast was just as incredible. From brilliant singing, perfect dance moves and so much energy, Dick Whittington injected so much life from start to finish from all angles of the stage.
My favourites? The girls from Lindsey Read School of Dance. They were adorable, so professional and brightened up the stage with their sweet smiles.
Dick Whittington was everything I expected and more, it was hands down the best pantomime I've seen in years and it had me in fits of laughter from beginning to end.
I also bumped into Bobby Davro on the way home and he was so lovely, talked about the show with such passion and signed our programmes which totally topped off the night perfectly for me.
Tickets are available to buy via The Mayflower where you can find prices and showing times.
Complimentary tickets for the purpose of review - please see disclaimer.