Dawn French will help lead the traditional pantomime back onto the London Palladium stage, promising ‘much merriment and happiness, downright cheek — and cheeks’.
She will play Dame Trott, Jack’s mum in Jack And The Beanstalk, in a £2 million show that will run at London’s most famous variety house for five weeks, joining its core Christmas gang: Julian Clary, Paul Zerdin, Nigel Havers and Gary Wilmot.
‘We’ve waited two years,’ she said in a statement about bringing the classic panto into the Palladium.
Yesterday Jack And The Beanstalk director and producer Michael Harrison explained that after French played the evil queen in Snow White at the venue in 2018, she had signed on for Jack.
Dawn French will play Dame Trott, Jack’s mum in Jack And The Beanstalk, in a £2 million show that will run at London’s most famous variety house for five weeks
Dawn French will be joining its core Christmas gang: Julian Clary (pictured), Paul Zerdin, Nigel Havers and Gary Wilmot
‘Then the pandemic hit,’ he explained, which meant he wasn’t able to mount a full-blown show with bells and whistles.
Instead, he presented Pantoland — a slimmed-down version of the time-honoured classic panto, two years running. But this one’s big.
‘The giant will be a huge animatronic one,’ and sets and costumes will be ‘spectacular’, Harrison assured me.
‘Dawn stuck with us until we were able to come back with a traditional panto title.’
Usually the panto Dame is played by a man, but not always .
‘We wanted to shake it up a bit,’ said the showman, noting that the likes of Dora Bryan, Mollie Sugden and Yootha Joyce all played Dame-like characters at the Palladium.
Jack And The Beanstalk director and producer Michael Harrison explained that after French played the evil queen in Snow White (pictured) at the venue in 2018, she had signed on for Jack
He added that Dawn’s Dame will not be the usual panto baddie. ‘This time she’ll be the force for good.’
Harrison and Clary will work on their drafts of the script. Then Harrison will visit Dawn at her Cornish home so she can add comic touches.
The special effects giant will have a flesh-and-blood wife, Mrs Blunderball. ‘She’s the villain,’ Harrison said, but she hasn’t been cast yet.
Jack And The Beanstalk will boast an ensemble of 16 and a 12-piece orchestra. Rehearsals begin in November.
Meanwhile, Dawn’s taking her Dawn French Is A Huge T**t show, directed by Michael Grandage, on tour; and you can currently see her in Kenneth Branagh’s film of Agatha Christie’s Death On The Nile.
With her and Julian Clary involved, this full-throttle Palladium panto is bound to be a laugh-a-thon.
- The show opens on December 10. Priority tickets on sale on Monday; general public seats on Tuesday.
A good bit of Kit for Henry!
I did a double-take watching director Max Webster’s scathing interpretation of Henry V (starring a stirring Kit Harington) at the Donmar.
The night I was in, Thomas Dennis was understudying the sulky French Dauphin.
He was a dead ringer for Putin’s (long) table guest, French president Emmanuel Macron.
Webster leaves you in no doubt of the barbarity of war; it’s refreshing that this Henry V is not a jingoistic flag-waving exercise.
The battle choreography is good, too, as is Adam Maxey’s baritone.
Telephone drama rings alarm bell
The telephone is Danielle de Niese’s co-star in a new film version of Jean Cocteau’s play La Voix Humaine, set to a score by Francis Poulenc.
The Royal Opera House and BBC co-production has an air of danger, and poignancy, as de Niese’s Elle (right), alone in her boudoir, makes a desperate phone call to a lover about to cast her aside.
The phone is the only tool that links the lovers in director James Kent’s sultry, atmospheric film.
Danielle de Niese stars in a new film version of Jean Cocteau’s play La Voix Humaine, set to a score by Francis Poulenc
There’s a nice pre-performance scene in which de Niese discusses this with conductor Antonio Pappano.
I’d like to see producer David Parfitt bring this team together again.
La Voix Humaine will be shown on BBC2 in the spring.
