After the last award winning performance of Beauty and the Beast, Disney are back at Sunderland Empire with it’s new musical: Bedknobs and Broomsticks.
The show is on tour now for it’s first ever Bedknobs and Broomsticks musical and will be showing in Sunderland Until 24th April 2022.
I was super excited to see one on my favourite childhood movies come to life on stage. The show is set in World War and has magic and fantasy along the way. The show also shows the effects of the war and yes, I did shed a tear or two but on the whole it’s a real uplifting show.
If you are a fan of the classics Mary Poppins, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang then you’ll love this. Like the film the musical features some of the famous hits such as Bobbing Along, But there are lots of new and very catchy songs too!
The famous role of Miss Eglantine Price (or Angela Lansbury was we know) is played by Dianne Pilkington and she is adorable from the onset. She really has a warmth about her that is brought to life and her singing is brilliant. She is supported by Charles Brunton who plays the magician Emelius Brown. I loved his character! He is full of energy and brings lots of humour to the show. Both of which bring their amazing talent to the show and you can see their experience throughout the performance.
Let’s not forget about the children who take us on their world of imagination. Without them we would have no show. The Rawlings children are played by Dexter Barry, Izabella Bucknell, Haydn Court, Poppy Houghton, Evie Lightman and Aidan Odi.
The skills of the actors really showed throughout the seamless transaction between scenes.
The production of the show was amazing. Disney always invest a lot into their staging and it really does help bring the performance to life. Speaking of that, this show had lots of magic tricks that were jaw dropping. I really couldn’t work out how it was done! It also had lots of animals and animation that were performed excellently and the transitions throughout each scene were very very smooth.
From being at the bottom of the ocean, to being on Portobello road in London, then the countryside, each stage had me mesmerised!
My Favourite scene as mentioned above was when they were at Portobello Road. You could see St Paul’s Cathedral in the background but the songs and cast were amazing. There was so much energy and colour on the stage I couldn’t peel my eyes away. I also really loved the costume design in this part too, it remined me of Wicked slightly.
The show is set in a gloomy era of war and war torn families but brings back the joy in imagination and the innocence of children. It’s a brilliant family show for everyone to enjoy not just the kids! DOn’t miss this childhood classical film come to life on stage this Spring!
*Gifted tickets
Previous Review of Current Touring Shows:
Jersey Boys Review
