This brand new musical adaptation based on Dodie Smiths’ ‘The One Hundred and One Dalmatians’ first opened its doors in 2022 at Regents Park Open Air Theatre. The show is written by Douglas Hodge (music and lyrics) and Johnny McKnight (book) from a stage adaptation by Zinnie Harris and it mostly follows the story from both the novel and The Disney film with a few adjustments along the way.

I’m afraid I’d like to start the review with a little gripe at Southend’s Cliffs Pavilion as there were no programmes available, which makes it difficult to write a review and give well-earned credit to the cast and creatives. I was also disappointed to see they charge parents for children’s booster seats, not to mention parking is £12 for four hours on a Sunday! A very pricey theatre.

That aside, I had a lovely afternoon watching this beautifully staged, eccentric and puppet mad musical. The story follows the likes of Pongo and Perdi, a pair of Dalmations (voiced and puppeteered by Linford Johnson and Emma Thornett), and their pets Tom and Danielle (Samuel Thomas and Jessie Elland). When the evil Cruella De Vil (Kym Marsh) hatches a plan to steal their Dalmation puppies, assisted by Jasper and Casper her nephews (Charles Brunson and Danny Hendrix), the puppies learn the Twilight Bark and their parents manage to save them and defeat Cruella.

The first thing to mention is the incredible staging. I loved the beautiful light up arches which cleverly elevated and highlighted certain moments in the show. The scenery wonderfully transported us to an imaginary world and I enjoyed the seamless movement between scenes. I wasn’t particularly blown away by the lyrics in the songs but the tunes were catchy and the performers sung them well.

A huge shout out needs to go to the puppets and puppeteers, intricately designed and directed by Jimmy Grimes and they made it look easy! The ensemble were suitably cartoonish and ridiculous, with costumes to match and Kym Marsh has an unquestionably brilliant voice and looked fabulous as the evil, fur-loving baddie.

I did, however, feel the production got a little confused and the script seemed to move away from the typical Disney type of comedy into a more pantomime style of humour which didn’t suit the production at all.

Overall it was a good, solid family show with high production values with the puppetry being a real highlight. A shame maybe that it veered a little too much towards pantomime with cringeworthy gags like “Finger lickin’ good – oh no that’s chicken” and a villain whose cackle made you feel you needed to boo her every time she entered the stage.

If you’re after a light, family show with a very very sweet ending (spoiler: they bring a real Dalmation puppy on stage!) then this is the show for you!

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️