Performance

Venue	Birmingham Hippodrome
	Other spaces: DanceXchange,Patrick Centre
Town	Birmingham
County	West Midlands
From	21st December 2004
To	30th January 2005
What is currently on at Birmingham Hippodrome (V145)

Jack and the Beanstalk

T0
Jack, a dim boy, sells the family's cow, their last remaining possession, for some 'magic beans', his mother is furious and throws them out of the window. Next morning there is a magic beanstalk, which Jack climbs to the land of the giant. There he rescues the love interest, and the goose that lays the golden eggs and runs away as the giant returns booming 'fee, fie, foe, fum, I smell the blood of an Englishman!' and occasionally 'Be he alive or be he dead I'll grind his bones to make my bread' depending on how bloodthirsty the panto is! As the giant follows Jack down the beanstalk Jack grabs an axe and chops it down thus killing the him.

Archive :: panto:S5921, venue:V145

Reviews

User Review: 05Jan05: Jack and the Beanstalk Birmingham Hippodrome, 4 January 2005 Television viewers may have crowned Joe Pasquale “King of the Jungle” but last night he took his crown as “King of the Hippodrome”. It must be 20 years since I last saw a pantomime at the Hippodrome and I had wondered what would be in store, would the old happy family show still be there or would it all be different? Well I need not have worried, a packed house of all ages was treated to a traditional panto of spectacle, humour, slapstick, romance and dance in an evening that was just fun from start to finish. Director Paul Elliott brings together a stellar cast headed by the immensely popular Joe Pasquale who was perfect as Jack Trot, simple but lovable and a great way with kids. His mother played by that experienced and accomplished Dame comedian Don MacLean had some lovely frocks and kept everyone laughing. Letitia Dean best known for her long running role as Sharon in “EastEnders” was a most glamorous Princess (Apricot Crumble) and had considerable stage presence and a strong singing voice too. Charlie Cairoli played her father (King Crumble) and provided the traditional slapstick for which his family have been famous for decades. The dastardly Fleshcreep who got lots of hisses and boo’s was played with great gusto by Jason Pethers and finally Veronica Hart was a pretty and tuneful Fairy. But the star of the show for the kids had to be Daisy the cow and although we never saw them Ashley Andrews and Jonathan Reynolds made her the most athletic cow I’ve ever seen. And what of the giant, well I have never seen anything so big and frightening in my life and the little girl in front of me was petrified. I would have sworn he was real! As with all panto’s this was a real team effort with sparkling choreography and an enthusiastic cast. The sets were colourful and the costumes brilliant. It was a great introduction to the theatre for the kids and if the happy faces leaving the theatre were anything to go by then I’d have to say this is a big hit. Brilliant! Clive Fuller

User Reviews

USER (05Jan05): Jack and the Beanstalk Birmingham Hippodrome, 4 January 2005 Television viewers may have crowned Joe Pasquale “King of the Jungle” but last night he took his crown as “King of the Hippodrome”. It must be 20 years since I last saw a pantomime at the Hippodrome and I had wondered what would be in store, would the old happy family show still be there or would it all be different? Well I need not have worried, a packed house of all ages was treated to a traditional panto of spectacle, humour, slapstick, romance and dance in an evening that was just fun from start to finish. Director Paul Elliott brings together a stellar cast headed by the immensely popular Joe Pasquale who was perfect as Jack Trot, simple but lovable and a great way with kids. His mother played by that experienced and accomplished Dame comedian Don MacLean had some lovely frocks and kept everyone laughing. Letitia Dean best known for her long running role as Sharon in “EastEnders” was a most glamorous Princess (Apricot Crumble) and had considerable stage presence and a strong singing voice too. Charlie Cairoli played her father (King Crumble) and provided the traditional slapstick for which his family have been famous for decades. The dastardly Fleshcreep who got lots of hisses and boo’s was played with great gusto by Jason Pethers and finally Veronica Hart was a pretty and tuneful Fairy. But the star of the show for the kids had to be Daisy the cow and although we never saw them Ashley Andrews and Jonathan Reynolds made her the most athletic cow I’ve ever seen. And what of the giant, well I have never seen anything so big and frightening in my life and the little girl in front of me was petrified. I would have sworn he was real! As with all panto’s this was a real team effort with sparkling choreography and an enthusiastic cast. The sets were colourful and the costumes brilliant. It was a great introduction to the theatre for the kids and if the happy faces leaving the theatre were anything to go by then I’d have to say this is a big hit. Brilliant! Clive Fuller

CORONAVIRUS: All UK venues closed on 16th March 2020, restrictions were lifted on 19th July 2021. Please note that iUKTDb archive listings between March 2020 and July 2021 may not be accurate as we did not receive details of all rescheduled and cancelled shows.