Hansel and Gretel

Set in Germany, the writers decided to do something different with the classic story of Hansel and Gretel. They wrote a sequel. Not an easy task to do well, but my goodness they did. The story was so good that I couldn’t wait for the interval to be over so that I could find out what happened next. Mix this with some great jokes and some wonderful chorus work and you get a fast paced colourful riot of fun from start to finish.

The characters were fabulous. I loved the Barron, Julian Hinton who was very Benny Hill from Chitti Chitti Bang Bang, complete with ornate lederhosen.

Young Hannah Brownlee as Heidi was delightful and showed some great slap stick comedy talent.

Lucy Childs as Hansel was every inch the traditional pantomime principal boy, with great stage presence a lovely voice and some wonderful comic interaction with both the cast and the audience. Childs also choreographed the show, with fantastically fresh, energetic and funky routines.

The other stand out performance for me was by Katie Salt as Clottie. I have to admit, as a big Wicked fan I do have a soft spot for Green Witches, but even so Salts timing was perfect and the opening of Act 2 showed off her great singing.

Dame Gretel, Jamie Wright and Weiner, James Murden were beautifully big and brash on the Sunday afternoon filled with lots of very young children, but also showed subtlety with the very cleverly hidden double entendres.

An all round great show and I will look forward to the next one.

• Type: admin
• Performance Date: 18/01/2015
• Star rating: 12345