Eventim Apollo Hammersmith

Tim Minchin may be from Perth, Australia, but the piano playing comic has felt like one of our own even since his first shows over here way back in 2005. Not just a hugely popular comedian, he’s woven into the fabric of our country via his smash musical Matilda – which has been running in the West End for over a decade – while follow up Groundhog Day was no slouch. This ironically titled tour – his first since the pandemic – is effectively a look back at his lengthy career.

This review is from 101 Dalmatians’ original 2022 run at the Open Air Theatre. It returns to the Hammersmith Apollo for a summer 2025 run starring Sydnie Christmas as Cruella de Vil. Adapted direct from Dodie Smith’s 1956 kids’ book – ie, absolute not a Disney production – ‘101 Dalmatians’ is a scrappy affair. It’s the first ever original musical from the Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre, and it boasts charming puppetry, big-name writers and a scream of a turn from Kate Fleetwood as the evil Cruella de Vil. But by the towering standards of the OAT – known for its revelatory musical revivals – it’s pretty uneven.  If you just view it as a fun kids’ show, you’d be more forgiving. In fact, I was pretty forgiving: I skipped press night and took my children the following afternoon. However, I wouldn’t say it’s really been pushed as a show for youngsters: historically the OAT’s musicals are aimed at an adult audience, the evening finish is certainly too late for my children, and the foregrounding of Fleetwood’s villainous Cruella de Vil in the publicity recalls Disney’s more adult-orientated spin-off film of last year (‘Cruella’). Anyway: my kids had fun at Timothy Sheader’s production. I mean, it starts with a protracted bottom-sniffing scene, for crying out loud, as grown-up dalmatians Pongo (Danny Collins and Ben Thompson) and Perdi (Emma Lucia and Yana Penrose) meet for the first time, give each other a good honk up the backside, fall in love and nudge their bookish,...