Jack and the Beanstalk 🌱

#PRInvite #Gifted | Audiences from Aberdonia are toddling on their way to His Majesty's Theatre, singing a merry song, this month for the latest installment from Crossroads Pantomimes: 'Jack and the Beanstalk'.

Star rating: ★★★★

Fee-Fi-Fo-Fum, I smell this year’s pantomime offering down at His Majesty’s Theatre for the 2024-2025 season! After such a successful twelve months for Aberdeen Performing Arts, and one of the best line-ups we have ever had here, the team at His Majesty’s Theatre are rounding off the year with ‘Jack and the Beanstalk’ - the ‘giant pantomime spectacular’ by Crossroads Pantomimes. It genuinely feels like it was only yesterday when I laced up my Doc Martens and trudged my way through the snow to see last year’s 'Sleeping Beauty' in their final few January performances. I absolutely adored last year’s production, so I was thrilled to see that the headline cast were making a return to our Aberdeen stage this year too. ‘Jack and the Beanstalk’ is a classic tale - but a first for me to see in pantomime form. So did it live up to expectations? … Oh yes, it did!

Crossroads Pantomimes, originally Qdos Entertainment prior to being absorbed, are a well-established company who brand themselves as the world’s biggest pantomime producer. Having produced over 700 of these festive shows since the company began, they are a firm hand at the spinning wheel when it comes to producing quality pantomimes. These are often affectionately received by Aberdeen audiences, who flock to His Majesty’s Theatre in their masses, almost selling out their 5 week run at Aberdeen Performing Arts. With Christmas just around the corner, and many tight pennies across the city, it was lovely to see a nearly full crowd on a Tuesday night as we welcomed the show with its press night.

‘Jack and the Beanstalk’ is a firm favourite children’s story developed by The Brothers Grimm, dating back to 1734. Though of course, each pantomime reflects the culture of the current year - this year was very 2024, injected with heaps of social media references. The Grimm Brothers aren’t the only two worth a mention, though, as twins Gary and Paul Hardy-Brown are involved in making every panto season magic, and ‘Jack and the Beanstalk’ is no exception. When Aberdonia’s animals become under threat with evil spirits who live in the skies, it is up to Jack Trott and Princess Jill to save them. We meet the Trot family on Trotter’s farm as they vow to protect their cow, Pat, at all costs. But, along the way, they are blindsided by the wicked Mrs Blunderbore who lures them into believing their cow is worth trading for some golden beans. Of course, these later transform into a giant beanstalk, allowing Jack and his team to go up against the giant and win back his pet cow and save Princess Jill who finds herself tangled in this mess!

Headlining the cast is Gary: Tank Commander as Gary Trott. This is Gary’s second stint in the Granite City - and he goes down as a hit once again. Though there are some stretched vocals singing an Abba classic, it is hard to deny that Gary’s charisma and passion for panto is exuberant. 

Actor Alan McHugh returns to the HMT stage once again as the beloved panto dame, Dame Trot. McHugh is always a wonder - a complete natural with engaging the audience - forever pulling off some outrageous costumes! McHugh is joined by his ally, Paul J. Corrigan as Pat the Cow - and I thought this was a brilliant role for him. It is nice to see Corrigan playing a different styled character to your traditional ‘Buttons’ after a few years.

Julie Coombe also hails back to Aberdeen from River City, taking on the role of the villain. I don’t imagine this type of role is particularly easy, contrasting quite literally every other cast member who spreads joy and happiness - but Coombe takes this in her stride. Despite some flat vocals, Coombe is brilliant as Mrs Blunderbore, and is not a far departure from Elaine C Smith, who headlined the Aberdeen panto for years before.

Perhaps the most special part of the headlining cast is that three performers return home to Aberdeen again. Danielle Jam is the Spirit of the Beans; Michael Karl-Lewis plays Jack Trot and Jemma Ferries is Princess Jill. It is always so lovely to see those who once sat in the audience at His Majesty’s Theatre, aspiring to become performers, return to delight audiences in their hometown over Christmas. All three were well suited to their roles and provided us with the best vocal performances of the night.

The cast are joined by a small ensemble, including: Ayron Campbell, Harley Charles, Rebecca Hazel Cunningham, Neve Ellen, Nadine McMahon, Adam Paul Robertson, Luke Stone and Jackson Walker.

Harry Thomson musically directs the piece, and this was pleasant overall. The Crossroads Pantomimes rely on original songs within each regional pantomime - and this can be slightly disappointing. There are a small handful of familiar tunes, but these are outweighed by surface level songs which are enjoyable at the time, and forgettable a short while after. Despite this, the original songs are improving year on year, and I particularly enjoyed A Castle Corridor which is reprised throughout. 

Known for their high-quality pantomimes, Crossroads always provide a gorgeous set - which the designer has been left unaccredited for in the show’s programme. The set is elevated by the lighting design, programmed by Devante Benjamin and Andrew Blumsum. I particularly enjoyed the use of colour in the production, and some potential subtle hints towards the Wicked movie with pink and green to represent the good and the wicked. ‘Jack and the Beanstalk’ comes equipped with pyrotechnics too regularly throughout, powered by Le Maitre. I just wish Danielle Jam stepped out on stage that wee bit sooner each time to help portray the intended magic illusion.

The standout of every Crossroads pantomime, though, is the costume design - and I was not let down here. Between the Dame’s costumes, strip tease, quick changes, galore - it is the wardrobe and dressers team that deserve all the gold stars over the next few weeks. I always look forward to the finale costumes which are marvellous - the one's which look like you’ve just opened a box of Quality Street… (once you see it, you can’t unsee it!)

Preventing the show from a full five stars is the paper thin story and predictable structure that ‘Jack and the Beanstalk’ revolves around. In a similar vein, I just don’t feel that audiences will have as good a time over the first few days of the run as the audiences in January will. It will inevitably be a grower: once the cast have had time to unearth the wit and start to have fun with it, this is when the show will thrive. This is an unfortunate consequence of seeing the show early on, and I really hope it continues to improve with each performance.

My main concern, surprisingly this year, is that I also feel that for the first time there is not enough material for children. Many jokes explicitly for adults which unravel for some time - resulting in kids losing attention and becoming restless, of course being a real shame. There are a lot of references to TikTok this year - inevitably - but this does feel gimmicky and a desperate attempt to appeal to a younger audience. Pantomimes are a pivotal moment in experiencing the magic of theatre for young children, and sadly, I don’t think this year’s panto lives up to the sparkle many kids will have ‘bean’ waiting for.

Lifting the production value up tenfold, though, comes a section of the show which is delivered in 3D. Previous pantomimes at HMT have utilised this feature, but none nearly as well as ‘Jack and the Beanstalk’ does this year. Having referenced to other popular TV shows throughout the performance, this section of the show was reminiscent of ‘I’m a Celebrity’ in ways; with the production team providing their very own bush-tucker trial. It was fair to say that I screamed the Dress Circle down a few times last night - sorry to anyone sitting nearby! Whilst this verges on the scarier side for little ones, this is spellbinding, and exactly the type of magic I wanted to see from this year’s panto.

‘Jack and the Beanstalk’ runs at His Majesty’s Theatre until Sunday 5th of January 2025. With new seats recently released between the 21st and the 24th of December, there are now more opportunities to catch the giant pantomime spectacular and bring in the festive period.