Rating: ★★★
Venue: New Victoria Theatre, Woking
Cast: Kym Marsh, Charles Brunton, Jessie Elland, Danny Hendrix, Linford Johnson, Samuel Thomas and Emma Thornett
When fashionista Cruella de Vil plots to swipe all the Dalmatian puppies in town to create her fabulous new fur coat, there’s trouble ahead for Pongo and Perdi and their litter of adorable, tail-wagging young pups.
Dodie Smith’s classic canine caper is brought to life on stage with spectacular puppetry, show-stopping choreography, witty songs and irresistible puppies!
We were invited to the press night at the New Woking Theatre which is the current stop on the UK tour of 101 Dalmatians the Musical. The event and theming was pawsome; from themed cocktails, balloons, and even "doggy" bags of sweets.
The musical itself is better suited for children and would be perfect for a family visit. However, it wasn't quite as pawsome as I'd hoped. While I can appreciate the effort that went into a production of this scale, it's not something I'm in a hurry to see again. But that doesn't mean you shouldn't experience this show yourself...as you might woof it!
While the story doesn’t completely follow the Disney version we all know and love, it still has a similar plot and many of its central characters. Cruella De Vil hires designer Tom (Samuel Thomas) to help create a new look with animal fur, only for her to fall in love with his own dalmatians. When he refuses to sell them to her, Cruella has her two minions Jasper (Danny Hendrix) and Casper (Charles Brunton) steal the puppies…
The cast who were puppeteering the dogs were fantastic; especially Emma Thornett who plays Perdi and Hugo Rolland who played Spud, he was hilarious. Samuel Thomas' portrayal of Tom felt a little over the top at times. I'm not sure if it was scripted that way, but the humour was lost on me unfortunately. However, he elicited a lot of laughs from the children in the audience, who are perhaps the most important audience members for a show such as this one.
The musical definitely had more of a pantomime feel to it; especially from brothers Jasper and Casper who are nephews of Cruella. Their act was exaggerated, silly, but equally entertaining and funny. The pair had the best chemistry and you could feel how much they enjoyed performing these characters together.
Kym Marsh is undoubtedly a massive draw to the show, for myself included. She absolutely embodied the role of Cruella De Vil and she stole every scene she appeared in. Her voice is just as beautiful as it has always been and her song Animal Lover, was the only song that really stood out for me. While her performance couldn't be faulted there was one bizarre scene in which she turned into a dog which almost felt like a fever dream.
As mentioned, apart from Animal Lover, none of the songs were earworms and I didn’t find myself humming any of the songs I'd heard - but that doesn’t mean they were particularly bad songs, they just didn’t hold my attention.
A small spoiler: the dalmatian puppy at the end of the show is a gorgeous touch and is definitely worth seeing for that scene alone!
You can book tickets to 101 Dalmatians at New Victoria Theatre, here.
Review by Sarah
**photo credit: Johan Persson**
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