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Sticking closely to tradition this version features all the familiar characters the audience expects to see in such a family favourite: Alderman Fitzwarren and his daughter Alice, Idle Jack, King Rat – not, alas, since rheumatism and gout set in, the rat he was in his prime - and not forgetting that most endearing of panto dames, Sarah the Cook. Bright, bouncy and brimming with good-heartedness, SHE knows the way to a man’s heart is through his stomach. Pity all she can cook is bean soup.
Then there’s the traditional double act of the piece, the Captain and Mate: in this case Upspoke, a man with a something to hide, and Jim Lad, who’s got all the guile and cunning of a tea cosy.
Tommy is a fun-loving feline who probably has more brains than the rest of the cast put together. That’s just as well as his sponsor, Dizzie Izzie, as this fairy of Bow Bell is known, is the archetypal blonde bimbo - gorgeous to look at, but sadly lacking in substance between the ears!
In all there are roles for fifteen characters, including a number of small parts which can be doubled up by members of the chorus, including the Sultan of Morocco and his daughter – a princess well past her sell-by date. And a chance too for a pair of youngsters to shine as old Ratty’s sidekicks, Itchy and Scratchy, leaders of the rat pack. Order a reading copy
Sailor: What’s for dinner, Sarah?
Sarah: It’s my speciality. It’s bean soup.
All: We don’t care what it’s been! What is it now?
Cap'n Upspoke: Avast me hearty! Avast before and avast – behind!
Ooops, sorry Missus!
SETTING THE SCENE
Dick Whittington opens, as tradition dictates, on the streets of London, outside Alderman Fitzwarren’s Stores in Cheapside. The shop interior features as another of the full-stage scenes, while Act One ends with the traditional dream scene – this gets underway “front of tabs” where a simple milestone suffices to represent Highgate Hill, then opens onto the full stage for the dream sequence itself. Dick’s visions appear with the magical assistance of a gauze inset while the option of a dance of the bells adds to the dramatic impact of the whole.
The main scenes of Act Two are the Port of London, the main deck of the Jolly Roger, a scene which ends in shipwreck and offers the effects department plenty of scope to really go to town – thunder, lightning, crashing timbers, falling rigging: if they’ve got it, let them use it - and the Palace of the Sultan of Morocco. London’s Guild Hall provides the setting for the finale with whatever traditional walkdown features, columns, swags, steps and rostra, can be mustered.
The nature of the part calls for King Rat to be accompanied by bangs and flashes at every opportunity, and with the dame a cook, how could the show be complete without an exploding oven? Top
MUSIC MAESTRO
With the message our young hero receives from the bells of London a traditional feature of the storyline of Dick Whittington, the show opens with the nursery favourite, Oranges and Lemons – a number which can be reprised for the dream sequence at the end of Act One – while Cock-eyed Optimist sums up Dick’s character to perfection. There’s plenty of scope for nautical ditties such as All the Nice Girls Love a Sailor and Riding Along on the Crest of a Wave, and other suggestions for musical numbers include The Sun Has Got His Hat On, Who Will Buy?, Seventy Six Trombones, and Pick a Pocket or Two. And Sarah gets to flaunt her charms in the Dance of the Five and a Half Veils – performed to the tune of The Stripper! Top