Paddington In Concert at Royal Concert Hall Nottingham Review

DISCLOSURE – TICKETS TO SEE THE SHOW WERE GIFTED TO THE REVIEWER AND GUEST FOR THE PURPOSES OF WRITING THE REVIEW

Reviewed by Gemma F

Like us, many of you will know and love the Paddington films. However, we had never watched it accompanied by the London Concert Orchestra, so we excitedly set off for Nottingham’s Royal Concert Hall to hear Nick Urata’s calypso-infused film score and to see what ‘Paddington In Concert’ was all about!

The Royal Concert Hall is in Nottingham’s city centre and is easily accessed by train, car and tram. Surrounded by Nottingham’s numerous eateries and shops, it’s the perfect venue for a day out. The theatre offers reduced rate parking nearby which we found easy to book and cost us just £7 for 8 hours parking. Our experience with concert hall staff was engaging and very welcoming. This impressive venue offers refreshments on each of its floors and has a spacious bar area, with toilets on each level. The toilet facilities could do with a cosmetic freshen up but the rest of the venue did not disappoint. Each floor offers increasingly impressive views over Nottingham and provides the perfect place to enjoy an interval drink or ice cream.

We chose seats in Tier 1 as we had been told the acoustics were best here. This tier provided an excellent view of the entire hall and orchestra filled stage. The audience was comprised of everyone from young families to older couples, each had come to see a young bear from Peru try to navigate the very new surroundings of London. Featuring acting royalty such as Hugh Bonneville, Sally Hawkins, Julie Walters, Jim Broadbent, Nicole Kidman, Ben Whishaw and Imelda Staunton, Paddington is brilliantly represented on the big screen. As the concert hall lights dimmed the London Concert Orchestra came to life and performed the film titles and set the scene for what promised to be a film experience like no other!

Based on Michael Bond’s much-loved books, cherished by families since 1958, the charming story follows the misadventures of a young bear from Peru who travels to London in search of a home. Taken in by the Brown family, who finds him lost and alone in Paddington Station, things are looking up for this rarest of bears. As for any young bear navigating a new world, Paddington finds himself in many hilarious situations which had audience members of every age laughing out loud. Hugh Bonneville plays his part with particular comic genius! All is going well for young Paddington, until that is, he catches the eye of an ambitious museum taxidermist…

The film is preceded by a pre-filmed introduction by Paddington enthusiast and film critic, Ali Plumb. He also appears at the interval and film end to add structure and humour to the experience. There is a great interactive quiz easily accessed by an on screen QR code which gave the audience a fun activity to complete during the interval. The composer was excellent in announcing the quiz winner at the end of the show and did so with great personality.

The London Concert Orchestra were outstanding. It was overwhelming to consider how the conductor timed his orchestra to the film score and crucial sound effects with absolute perfection throughout the film. Having never watched a film accompanied by a live orchestra I was not sure what to expect, but now that I have I can sum it up by saying the following: watching Paddington with a live orchestra makes the funny bits even funnier, the tense bits more tense and the joyful bits more joyful! The power of the live orchestra added a magic that just can’t be experienced when watching the film in a cinema or from home. It’s a magical way of exposing those new to orchestral music to this type of music in an engaging and powerful way.

If you have an opportunity to see this film accompanied by a live orchestra, it was wonderful so don’t hesitate to go. Oh, and lastly….don’t forget to pack your marmalade sandwiches!

Rating: 4/5


https://www.atgtickets.com/shows/paddington-in-concert/

Tickets cost from £17.50.
 Paddington In Concert is currently touring the UK until 16th April 2024.

Theatre Royal & Royal Concert Hall, Theatre Square, Nottingham, NG1 5ND.