Prepare yourself for a plethora of puppy puns because the musical remake of 101 Dalmatians at His Majesty’s Theatre Aberdeen gets top barks for family fun.
With some of the most mesmerising puppy puppetry I’ve ever seen, top-tier vocals, incredible costumes and laugh-out-loud moments, this show will both surprise and delight an audience of all ages.
Spot’s the show about?
Running until Saturday Nov 2 the classic tale adapted for the stage sees former Coronation Street star Kym Marsh embody the role of fiendish fashionista Cruella De Vil, who has a penchant for pinching animal hides to make her clothes.
When she meets bashful clothes designer Tom, played by Samuel Thomas, she also discovers his partner Danielle (Emmerdale’s Jessie Elland) and much to her delight, their two black-and-white pooches Pongo and Perdi.
Flanked by her slapstick-supplying nephews Jasper and Casper, she’s inspired by the silky, spotted skins of the dogs and more so when she realises Perdi is pregnant.
Perniciously then hell-bent on procuring the puppy pelts for her own gain, she tries to buy the litter to no avail, so sends her sidekicks to steal them.
Meanwhile, as she schemes in her House of De Vil, we see the relationship between Tom and Danielle, and their canine counterparts grow. Missing puppies and a nefarious plot for their downfall – make for an enthralling two-act spectacular.
New songs hit the right bone
True to Dodie Smith’s original book but entirely different from the animated Disney feature, the show comes with a brand new musical score starting with the rousing ‘Take Me Home Please’, where we’re also introduced to the real stars of this show – the dogs.
More than a little intrigued before the curtain lifted as to how more than a hundred hounds would be recreated, I expected some kind of audio-visual wizardry. So it was both a surprise and a delight when Pongo, Perdi and their chums were brought to life through puppetry.
Written by Jonny McKnight, whose credits include Scottish TV show River City, and composed by Tony Award-winning Douglas Hope, the show comes alive thanks to puppet designer and director Jimmy Grimes.
Grimes, whose work featured in the National Theatre’s critically acclaimed War Horse, is the magic ingredient in this show.
Maybe the theatre equivalent of a movie that comprises live-action and animation, you actually forget at times the animals are being manipulated by their non-hidden humans.
Crowd-pleasing performance raises the woof
Lovely moments in the show reminded me of why theatre is so special. The carefully choreographed “meet cute” where the puppy-eyed lovers get tangled in their dogs’ leads and emotive scenes where one of the puppies sings “That future coat is me” pull together all the right emotions, and the high and lows you’d expect from a big production.
Clever sets and other animals also add to the joy-inducing show. Although I’d be lying if I said being reduced to tears by the near-death of a dog puppet was expected.
By the end of the show – following a spectacular car scene and a fairytale ending (plus a very cute LIVE surprise) – the audience was on its feet.
My nine-year-old co-reviewer clapping louder than anyone.
Asked for her favourite moment she giggled and said “when the dogs sniffed each other’s bottoms.” Mine was much more demure – I was just transfixed by how lifelike the dogs were.
- With tickets ranging from £23-55 and a few days left to secure a ticket, I’d highly recommend going along. It hits all the right (black and white) spots.
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