101 Dalmatians
Review by Brad
⭐⭐
After first premiering in July 2022 at Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre, the stage musical adaptation of 101 Dalmatians is back for six weeks at the Eventim Apollo.
Perhaps one of Disney’s most iconic villains, Cruella De Vil is a fur-obsessed fashionista who becomes hell-bent on kidnapping and skinning a large family of dalmatians for her latest outfit.
The show opens with puppetry that’s well-executed for the most part (certainly an improvement from the somewhat unseemly, disembodied design of the original production). However, when a dog turns to the audience to earnestly sing about “home”, it becomes obvious that this is not a clever, heartwarming or even fun retelling, but more so a drab and confused re-hashing that eventually skins alive the original to create something pretty dire and ugly.
Evoking all the thrills of a shipping forecast, the script is unfunny, unimaginative and poorly structured. The show gradually turns into a full-blown pantomime as the story meanders further away from the original tale. Act 2 in particular loses all sense of cohesion, introducing and centralising new players, whilst having no clue what to do with its main characters, including Cruella.
It goes without saying that Sydnie Christmas can PERFORM. She embodies the iconic character of De Vil well, wicked laugh and all. Her acting is meritable for the most part, it's just a shame the material provides no room for her to truly shine.
The music leaves much room for improvement, lacking in anything catchy or memorable, ultimately resorting to the last five numbers of the show being reprises. But fear not, you could bet money you’ve never heard any of them before, as every number is as forgettable as the next. The lyrics are as consistently goofy and aimless as the script, failing to provide any humour or character development; instead it just tries to bat the audience over the head with unearned sentimentality.
Perhaps very young kids can find something(?) enjoyable in this, but you’d be better off waiting for the annual panto of Jack & the Beanstalk to guarantee they don’t fall asleep in their seats.