Brighton Year-Round 2024

Zinnie Harris, Douglas Hodge, Johnny McKnight 101 Dalmatians The Musical

ATG Productions and Tristan Baker & Charlie Parsons for Runway Entertainment present

Genre: Adaptation, Contemporary, Family, Live Music, Mainstream Theatre, Musical Theatre, Puppetry, Theatre

Venue: Theatre Royal, Brighton

Festival: Brighton Year-Round

Low Down

Review

Are you barking yet? It’s past twilight unless you come to the matinee , and Kerry Ellis’s Cruella De Vil is waiting for you, with gently smiling jaws. Zinnie Harris’s 2022 dramatisation of Dodie Smith’s  classic 1961 101 Dalmatians The Musical  with music and lyrics by Douglas Hodge with Johnny McKnight’s book arrives at Theatre Royal, Brighton directed by Bill Buckhurst till January 5^th.

If you have any children within swirling distance, take them to this. It’s a kid’s delight and above all with Jimmy Grimes’ puppetry design and direction a feast of doggy delectability, or puppyteering; with illusionist Jamie Allan providing some deft sleights. That’s one of the finest features of Harris’s update and re-shaping of Smith’s rather beige Mrs and Mrs Darling.  So dog-pound softie Danielle (Jessie Elland) meets goofy gifted designer Tom (Samuel Thomas) who already has a dog Pedi (Emma Thornett); who meets Daniele’s new dog Pongo (Linford Johnson) who’s adopted her. Cue dogs get it on so humans obediently follow. But out-of-work Tom is recruited by just one person as costumier by… yes you’ve guessed it. And she wants what he’s got.

Ellis is a dream of evil. Her costume looks like the Tudors escaped from the Forbidden Planet (Sarah Mercadé’s costumes score, though why are puppeteers in mid-vis NHS scrubs green and not black?)

Maybe Cruella has too. Her diction is spit-sharp setting the bar rather high for everyone. Outstanding amongst other singers is Thornett’s Perdi, a soaring lyric soprano, though Elland in her pitched northern gal and Thomas with his machine-gun stammer are impressive, and Johnson’s mellow Pongo. The puppies are numerous but the ensemble, as ever, show more talent than some of the creatives.

It’s the kind of sweet romance seen in some Southwark Playhouse musicals, which have enormous appeal. The pity is, we have to leave the humans, and shift either to the magnificent puppeteering or Ellis, who seems almost destined to er… keep our eyes as peeled as any spotty fur.

Choreographed by Lucy Hind there’s some attractive work about 35 minutes in, when the plot darkens. Some might find the stage crowded, especially in puppy scenes. It didn’t worry me at all, and you’ll be entranced by the puppeteers and the rather beautiful dog puppets. Most of all the detail. When Tabby the non-binary cat arrives, they’re wagging their tail through every song.

Musical Director Leigh Stanford Thompson drives a score punchy and well contained  (orchestrations Jack Hopkins, arrangements Alfonso Casado Trigo, sound Chris Whybrow). Musical contribution might be undersung because the music’s generic. But there are highlights. The witty ‘Littterbugs’ of all the songs might dimly remind you of something else. I don’t care, it’s pithy and infectious and Hodge inspires himself to mine the best music out of his own lyrics here. ‘Take Me Home’ is appealing as the signature song and Ellis with ‘Bring Me Fur’ ‘I Can Smell Puppy’ scores with her voice, even though neither of the numbers are themselves earworms.

There’s good work for Cruella’s two despised dumb-and-dumber nephews Casper (Charles Brunton), Jasper (Danny Hendrix) and a delicious dive well-lit where the corrupt ensemble including Boris and a Met policewoman sing ‘The Pub Song’ as if out of The Threepenny Opera (even the title nods to Brecht).

A new set by David Woodhead seems some improvement on the original (judging by photos and comments), with the new direction. It focuses essentially on Cruella’s castle and (briefly) car, though there’s some deft arrangement of sofas and good recycling of cages (first the pound, then Cruella’s dungeon for dogs). Lit by James Whiteside, it sometimes transcends a skimpiness, especially with Cruella’s pad or some of the night scenes.

The ensemble is first-rate, often wielding puppets and singing. Naturally their mouths are obscured and it’s more difficult to pick up diction – and that’s something that can improve through the run. Collars off to Victoria Compson-Bradford, Benjamin Durham (Dance Captain), Benedict Hastings, Lottie Johnson, Rachel Lea-Gray, Tom Norman (Puppetry Captain), Hugo Rolland, Lindo Shinda, Eugene Shire Kenan-Lewis Smith, Jasmine Triadi.

Harris’s reinvention is a fine idea, and I’ve no qualms about ditching some of the cosiness that even by 1956 seemed a bit dated (though when I read it as a child, it wasn’t noticeable to be fair). The problem is content: it works well enough in the first act, but the second, with the long near-tragedy (wait for that, not a dry eye, and affecting at first) and other longeurs, is thin on plot. The pub scene goes for nothing, since it doesn’t return. Couldn’t the goofy humans figure a little more? Naturally they don’t in the novel, but I miss Harris’s neat characterisation of her post-Darling couple. The denouement isn’t as theatrically handled as it might be. The great addition is Tabby and a plea for inter-species tolerance.

Overall though a perennial tale in essence is given a potentially fine makeover. Above all Ellis’s Cruella, the hard-working puppeteers, finely-crafted puppets make this highly recommendable. Some of the storyline (including Danielle and Tom) also make this a Christmas must and New Year resolution: for all of us under ten in the holidays.

Casting Director Lucy Casson CDG,

General Management, Production Management Matt Ledbury, Runway Entertainment Marketing & Advertising Helen Snell Ltd, Press Jo Allan PR

Published December 18, 2024December 18, 2024 by Simon Jenner