As some of you may know, I’ve been reviewing for BroadwayWorldUK since December of 2016. It’s been brilliant to flex my writing muscles and share my love of theatre on a bigger platform, and since I re-branded and relaunched this little blog in 2018, I’ve had dreams of building it and among other things, reviewing independently. That in mind, I’m delighted to be sharing this, my first official Wheelie Stagey Press Night review.
The year is 1969. A young actor, Ewan, has big dreams of reopening the Greenwich Theatre. He stumbles across a Fabergé egg, and in doing so begins an adventure that takes us back through time and space. In 1851, Tsar Ivan the Slightly Irritable and Tsarina Bertha are preparing to christen their daughter Anastasia while the sinister Rasputin plots to overthrow the Tsar from the shadows, and through Ewan and the sassy Fairy Fabergé, the two worlds collide.
Unconventional, indeed, but what shines through is writer/director/Dame Andrew Pollard’s love for and understanding of panto as an art form; the jokes, while they don’t always land as well as they might, come thick and fast, as do opportunities for the cast to corpse with each other and breaking the fourth wall. It’s also incredibly witty in terms of how topical it is: with references to Brexit, Jacob Rees Mogg and the question of the Irish backstop thrown in.
The energy and enthusiasm of the entire cast is palpable and endearing, even during the occasional moments where the show lags in pacing; in that respect the second half flows better than the second and feels more entertaining.
As a whole, there’s a very lavish feel to proceedings: Cleo Pettitt’s design is a striking set of various colourful backdrops and set pieces that revolve on and off, and glitter abounds. The costumes also continues this larger than life thread, particularly through Tsarina Bertha, who goes from icy blue, red stripes and a black and white number with fan and black puddings aplenty!
Andrew Pollard as Tsarina Bertha, Eli Caldwell as Bjorn, and Martin Johnston as Tsar Ivan (Credit: Robert Day)
The mix of music, both contemporary and classic is an absolute delight: we get everything from The Beatles, to Billie Elish and Lizzo. The musical theatre fan in me was overjoyed by the numbers from Rent and Hairspray, and a massive personal highlight for me was hearing Martin Johnston rap!
Andrew Pollard’s Tsarina Bertha is everything you’d expect: loud, brash and wonderfully camp, the ease in which he can shift into double entendre and have complete control over the humour is astonishing, complimented wonderfully by Johnston’s warm and charming Tsar Ivan, by no means as irritable as his moniker suggests.
As Ewan, Regan Burke is immensely likeable, with a strong voice also to boot. Watching him opposite Esme Bacalla-Hayes’s feisty Anastasia was great fun as both captured the playful, lovesick chemistry very well. It made a refreshing change to see the roles reversed, in the sense that this is a story about a young woman wanting to make her own decisions and way in the world, and taking matters into her own hands.
Esme Bacalla Hayes and Regan Burke (Credit: Mark Day)
There’s scene stealing work from Anthony Spargo as Rasputin, and a laugh out loud turn from Eli Caldwell as Swedish au pair Bjorn.
With the venue now celebrating its 50th Anniversary, what a loving tribute to its origins and wonderful tradition of acclaimed pantomimes. This marked my first visit to the venue, and if all their work is as clever and inventive as their festive offerings, I hope it’s not my last.
Wheelie Stagey 