Review: PETER PAN, Wolverhampton Grand, December 15 2015

After seeing a similar panto production of Peter Pan at Birmingham Hippodrome a few years, Qdos Entertainment have rolled it out to the Wolverhampton Grand this Christmas, starring the Chuckle Brothers and John Altman. With stunning sets, flying and plenty of gags, what more can you ask for!

Straight into the story at the top of the show, we are in Neverland after the first five minutes or so. Peter Pan isn't the best choice for a pantomime as the content is quite minimal in comparison to some of the others. But what it sometimes lacks in storytelling, it makes up for in comedy and visual effects. It wouldn't be Peter Pan without flying and the characters doing so generally manage this well, particularly when slickly detaching themselves from the mechanism on stage. The stunning Jolly Roger ship is a beautiful set piece and you know you're in for a treat when this appears. There is also, of course, a flying car at the end of Act One which flies out over the audience - always a crowd pleaser, paired with a wonderfully cheesy musical number. David W Kidd's lighting design is particularly effective in these moments.

The music is performed by five musicians under the direction of David Lane. Although slightly over amplified at times, making it difficult to hear the vocals, they produce a big sound considering there are so few of them. A lot of the radio mics also seemed muffled so the general dialogue quality was unfortunately poor. Most of the original music in the show is catchy and melodic but I disliked Clean Bandit's 'Rather Be' and Taylor Swift's 'Bad Blood'. They sit very awkwardly amongst the rest of the material.

This show is owned by the Chuckle Brothers, playing 'pretend' pirates Paul and Barry Smee. Not looking a day older than their Chucklevision days, they are still as funny and in tune with one another as they were all those years ago. They steal the best moments in the show; the cucumber sequence is hilarious. They are fearless and when threatening to 'pie' a lady on the front row of the stalls, you think they are joking but no! At 70, Barry even strips down to his frilly knickers literally; no inhibitions at all. John Altman plays Captain Hook and is not nearly as intimidating as he should be. Vocally 'Bad Blood' is a bit of a stretch for him and his overall performance is sadly underwhelming.

Ross Carpenter is a very youthful and charismatic Peter Pan with tons of energy. Hannah Nicholas as saccharine sweet Wendy doesn't have a great deal to play with but is a good grounder for Carpenter. Tinkerbell is played by Lucy Evans who looks stunning. Her childish nature goes down well with the kids in the audience and she performs a great duet with Kimmy Edwards (Tigerlily) at the end of Act One.

A hoot of a pantomime. The trailer can be viewed here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BlpPGDWF3Ng.

Peter Pan plays at the Wolverhampton Grand Theatre until 24 January 2016.

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