There is something quite unusual about the latest Disney screen-to-stage adaptation that hadn’t really occurred to me until I was sitting in the auditorium of the Congress Theatre in Eastbourne.
Unlike The Lion King, Beauty and the Beast, Frozen and Aladdin, the film version of Bedknobs and Broomsticks centres around the clever combination of live action and animation, working side by side. So, as the lights go down and the music soars, I wonder exactly what tricks the creative team have come up with to replicate this – but nothing prepares me what is about to unfold before my eyes.
The first few minutes of the Michael Harrison’s production have no dialogue at all but, from the moment that a wartime bomb lands on their home, with incredibly clever use of props, and several quick scene changes, we see the three orphaned Rawlins children reluctantly evacuated from wartime London to live with the mysterious Eglantine Price in Pepperinge Eye on the Dorset coast.
The ensemble works very hard to create a whole host of colourful characters as well as being responsible for the vast majority of the scene changes, the manifestation of the magic that is used throughout the show and the superb puppetry that that replaces the animation, particularly in act two.
The story is faithful to the original film with Price, a trainee witch, joined by the children in the search for a secret spell that could help her defeat the enemy. After meeting up with the eccentric Professor Emelius Browne, they, and we, head off on a fantastical journey, transported by a magical flying bed, to Portobello Road and then onward to meet with the King of the Island of Nopeepo – so called as there are “no people”, by order of the King.
The show features some superbly executed illusions including standard magic tricks with top hats, canes and silk handkerchiefs. But we also see characters magically turned into rabbits and then, in a puff of smoke, returned to their original form, a broomstick that bounces around the stage unaided and, as mentioned before, the most amazing flying bed.
The Sherman Brothers wrote some wonderful songs, fifty years ago, for the 1971 film including The Beautiful Briny, The Age of Not Believing and Portobello Road and those, and many more from the film, are included in the stage show, making it a very faithful screen to stage transformation.
Although slightly too old to appear as 13-year-old Charlie Rawlins, Conor O’Hara has an emotional innocence that helps to suspend disbelief just enough to make the casting work. He is supported by a team of juveniles who take on the roles of Cassie (Izabella Bucknell, Sapphire Hagon, Poppy Houghton and Evie Lightman) and Paul (Haydn Court, Dexter Barry, Jasper Hawes and Aidan Oti).
Charles Brunton is simply marvellous as the Professor, who is more surprised than anyone to find out that his spells actually work. He is suitably awkward in the underwater dance contest, and totally believable as the archetypal “nutty professor”.
Trying to emulate the totally unique movie performance of Angela Lansbury would have been a terrible mistake, but Dianne Pilkington is too good, and experienced, to fall into that trap. Her character is most definitely Eglantine, with traits that hark back to the film version, but her on stage performance is as unique as the celluloid original, and a joy to behold.
The combination of clever scenery, well thought out lighting, immaculate costumes, the puppetry that brings the King of Nopeepo, a stork, a bear and a couple of rabbits to life, and the extremely talented cast gives the, very enthusiastic, audience two hours of classic Disney magic, with a very modern twist, and provides a superb outing for the entire family. The tour continues around the country, so keep an eye out for that fantastic flying bed!
***** Five Stars