THERE was a giant load of festive fun when the Jigsaw Players staged Jack and the Beanstalk at Lickey’s Trinity Centre.
The classic pantomime was packed with one-liners, songs, dances, audience participation and more sweets and chocolates than you could shake a wand at.
It centred on Jack, Simple Simon and their mum Dame Tilly Trot who are forced to sell their cow Buttercup after Giant Blunderbore and evil sidekick Grotviler bleed the village dry through taxation.
There were a multitude of enjoyable scenes and among the best were the ‘If I Were Not in Panto’ dance routine which was meticulously played out, pantomime cow Buttercup producing bottles of milk and the dairy-themed song montage featuring an ‘appearance from the Village People’.
Musical highlights included Last Vie en Rose by Phoebe Fletcher as Fairy Harricot Vert, Madison Copson-Godwin (Jill) with On My Own and the harp’s rendition of Somewhere Over the Rainbow, a solo by Chloe Gould.
Harrison Daley got the crowd going as the evil Grotviler and Charlie Dealaselle put in a good performance as Jack.
Alice Butler and Vicky Bradley as Grabbit and Leggit as hapless henchmen got their fair share of the laughs and were favourites with the crowd.
But the performances of the production went to Hannah Price as Simple Simon and Paul Robinson as Dame Tilly Trot. The comic timing of both was excellent and the pair’s rapport with the audience was second to none.
The dancers and choreography were also fantastic, as was the chorus although the version of Count on Me could have been performed better.
The first half was also a tad long for the younger ones but overall this was an enjoyable and excellent seasonal extravaganza and a great way to start a Christmas countdown.
There is a rescheduled show on Sunday, December 17, at 7.30pm.
Tickets, at £11, are available by emailing [email protected] or by calling 07919 505764 or 07772 645722.
