Blogmas 15 – Peter Pan Panto
Welcome back to Blogmas. Have you read my post about our evening at the Magical Lantern Festival?
Today’s post is about watching Peter Pan at the Birmingham Hippodrome. As I’ve mentioned in my previous Blogmas post about Christmas in my city, we’ve been watching the Hippodrome panto for the last three years.
It’s definitely one of the highlights of Christmas for us all. I usually buy my tickets way in advance but this year we were invited to the press night. Even if we weren’t invited though, I would have still bought tickets because it’s a show not to miss.
In the last few years, they’ve had actors like John Barrowman, Phil Mitchell and The Crankies in some of their pantos. Yet it’s Matt Slack who draws us back every year. His comic timing is impeccable.
The panto always has such high production values, lavish sets and costumes and brilliant song and dance numbers. This time was no different.
Matt Slack was on perfect form as usual and worth every penny. It’s his sixth year starring in the Birmingham panto. I love his double-entendres and his regular skits and sketches which just get better and better every year.
Jimmy Osmond stars as Captain Hook and Matt Slack (who plays See) is constantly calling him Donnie (something you will understand if you were an Osmond fan).
Of course there were also references to recent events like Theresa May’s Dancing Queen number, I’m A Celebrity and the Floss. Matt Slack’s impressions are fantastic.
Meera Syal makes her panto debut and she does a good job as the Magical Mermaid. There are also references to her previous work like Goodness Gracious Me and The Kumars At No. 42.
The cast make some mistakes here and there. Some of them are deliberate for comic purposes but others are real slip-ups.
It’s all done so humorously though and adds to the entertainment. There are so many laugh out loud moments, my cheeks actually hurt when I left.
The acrobatic troupe, The Tumbuktu Tumblers, play The Neverlanders and perform a brilliant display of human pyramids, hoop-jumping and flaming limbo work.
Then there’s Sascha Williams who made it to the semi-finals of Britain’s Got Talent. He performs his edge-of-your-seat Role Bola act as the drunken pirate aboard the Jolly Roger.
At every panto, there’s a flying object that flies or comes out in to the audience. We’re treated to three of these moments in Peter Pan, including Captain Hook on the Jolly Roger.
There is nothing like going to panto at Christmas time to really get you in to the festive spirit and feeling the magic. However, it’s on till the 27th Jan so there’s still plenty of time to catch it. Roll on December 2019 for the next panto!
Shalini’s Review:
It was another amazing panto and it’s one of my favourite things about Christmas. I loved all the actors and the brilliant costumes. Matt Slack is the one we all love and he made me laugh so much with his funny songs and impressions. I can’t wait for next year.
Rating: 12/10
Shivam’s Review:
I loved it. It was so funny. Matt Slack just gets better every year. He was my favourite by far. I really enjoyed the tongue-twisters and Matt Slack’s sequence using different songs.
Rating: 100/10
Read my Christmas Poem and my Top 10 Christmas movies.
