A Christmas treat for the kids - The Three Little Pigs at Minerva Theatre, Chichester | Review
Styles and Drewe are names that are fast ascending the holy mountain of musical-writers, nearly, nearly, nearly reaching the dizzy heights of Gilbert and Sullivan, Rogers and Hammerstein and Lerner and Loewe.
Their The Three Little Pigs is the Christmas children’s show at The Minerva this year in a joint-production with Unicorn Theatre.
I have to say, I like Styles and Drewe. Their original material such as Honk! and Mary Poppins is banging stuff.
It was also they who added seamlessly-blended new material to Chichester’s revival of Half-a-Sixpence – which was a flippin’ marvel – but, as a show, The Three Little Pigs just didn’t gel for me.
Now, I’m more than happy to concede that may be an age-thing.
The pigs themselves, named here as Bar, B and Q (yes. They did that) are played with immense energy and enthusiasm by Sam Mellows, Iona Crampton and Joe Thompson-Oubari, respectively, but the majority of their songs have a rap-feel about them, music which arrived long after I sat watching Top of the Pops on a Thursday night, and that I’ve never quite understood.
I would also say that the average age of the children in the audience on the day I saw it was around seven, so maybe not wholly accessible to them, either.
Paula James plays Mother Pig – encouraging her children out of the family home, but keeping an eye on them from afar – beautifully. Her belt-vocals impress, especially in the upper register.
Star of the show, though, is Jack Wilkinson as a very user-friendly Big Bad Wolf. He connects well with the audience, his vocals are strong and his comedy lifts the whole thing.
Suitable for kids? Absolutely.
Suitable for stick-in-the-mud olders? Of course it is! It’s Christmas!
Get along and see it.
Until December 28.