Dick Whittington At Birmingham Hippodrome Review

Reviewed by Liz Squires

It’s that time of year again where it’s customary for many people, to go to the theatre and get settled in for a local pantomime. I was recently given the great pleasure of visiting the Birmingham Hippodrome with my son, for a side-splitting experience of Dick Whittington. This star-studded version of Dick Whittington is without doubt the most hilarious thing I have ever seen. I am a late comer to the world of pantomime with this being my second in my 35 years and my goodness was I glad to be given the opportunity.

Dick Whittington is the story of; the guy, Dick, played by Matt Slack; the girl, Alice played by Hearsay’s Suzanne Shaw; the fairy played by ITV’s Dr Ranj and the dastardly villain the Rat Man played by Wet Wet Wet’s Marti Pellow. With hysterical one-liners, over flowing ‘dad’ jokes, consistent innuendos, mashups galore, impressions and an overload of love, warmth and magic, this story explains Dick’s journey to becoming Lord Mayor or Panto Land and the trials he has to face at the hands of the Rat Man!

Doreen Tipton is the cat and offers a range of spectacular surprises and is incredible in her role as Dick’s mascot. Panto wouldn’t be Panto without the Dame, played by Andrew Ryan the Dame is an incredibly warm and wonderful integral part of this pantomime. Her costumes are exquisite and hysterical. Larger than life and full of joy Andrew does an incredible job at delivering his position as the Felicity.

The set of the production was like nothing I expected from a pantomime! Projector lights and images displayed across the entire theatre. With thanks to the London Palladium the interchangeable set allows a delivery of excellence during the performance and the props are like no other. Brightly coloured, uplifting, and interactive the set was just impeccable.

The costumes of the entire cast were phenomenal and everything I would have hoped for, they were over the top, extravagant, beyond full of sparkle and glitz and glamour. They were just spectacular. You could clearly see how hard the entire cast had worked on this production and they should be incredibly proud of themselves. Their performance was superb!

The Hippodrome is a discreet, and understated venue in the centre of Birmingham. On the outside it is lit up with luminous purple letters and on entrance into the huge modern foyer the hippodrome staff were instantly welcoming and helpful. Bag checking and ticket checking flowed well, and it was clear where you could obtain pre ordered tickets. There was always someone on hand to help direct you to wherever you needed to be.

Situated in the top circle our seats were comfortable with a good clear view of the stage. Each seat dedicated in memory to a theatre lover who clearly valued and adored the theatre and everything it symbolises. The décor of the theatre was simply breath-taking, rendering me predominantly speechless. The modern exterior is certainly deceiving of the internal beauty of the venue and is firmly a new favourite for aesthetics and feel.

Toilets were clean and there were plenty of them to accommodate the entire theatre without a long queue, food and drink are situated centrally and are accessible quickly. Reasonably priced I felt we obtained a bottle of Coke, regular cup of tea (same size regular *********) (editor’s note – brand name removed), a share bag of Haribo, share bag of Whine Gums and share bag of Twirls for £14.00. As with all …my reviews the price of ice cream really is a clincher for the venue. High quality ice cream pots of 125ml were £3.50 each which is certainly a positive for me and seems to be in line with competitive theatres in the city.

We parked our car at the NCP car park New Street which to be frank was extortionate and £8.50 for 3 hours. There are other car parks near by that I am sure are considerably cheaper but as we were pressed for time from being held up in traffic, we found the closest carpark we could.

In short, I cannot recommend going to the Hippodrome Birmingham to see Dick Whittington enough.

Please be aware for people with photo sensitive epilepsy there is flashing lights, please check with venue for suitability.

Rating: 5/5

Dick Whittington run from 21st December 2022- 29th January 2023. Tickets cost from £16.50 plus booking fee. For more information or to book tickets, visit www.birminghamhippodrome.com

The Hippodrome, Hurst Street, Southside, Birmingham, B5 4TB