101 Dalmatians – Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre

Jonny Weldon, Kate Fleetwood and George Bukhari in 101 Dalmatians at Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre, London. Picture: Mark Senior

101 Dalmatians continues at Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre until 28 August 2022.

Star rating: four stars ★ ★ ★ ★ ✩

1. Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre is (in most weather conditions) one of the most delightful places to enjoy an evening of theatre in London.
2. What could be better than a family day out in the park ending with a group trip to the theatre?
3. Who doesn’t love dogs?
4. If you don’t like dogs, 101 Dalmatians also has cats.
5. There’s a fox too.
6. And some humans, if that’s your bag.
7. 101 Dalmatians is very much a family show.
8. It doesn’t shy away from the darker sides of the story…
9. …but, as far as I noticed, no children left traumatised.
10. (Nearly) all animals in this production are masterfully brought to life with puppetry.
11. The puppets are designed by Toby Olié, who has worked on stage puppetry for Disney and War Horse.
12. Alongside assistant puppet director Maia Kirkman-Richards, he has brought gorgeous animal life to Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre.
13. The young pups are represented by disembodied heads and tails; logistically sensible given the numbers required.
14. The full stage of adorable Dalmatians is in no way diminished by them being puppets, thanks in part to the well-co-ordinated operators.
15. The grown-up dogs are the biggest success of the show.
16. These puppets are manipulated by two performers each.
17. The dogs can talk.
18. The dogs can sing!
19. Danny Collins and Emma Lucia lend charm and surprising emotional depth to the canine romantic leads.
20. Lucia in particular is heart-breaking in her Act II solo.
21. 101 Dalmatians does not shy away from devastating moments.
22. Early on, Tom Peters makes us all want to adopt a puppet with his tear-inducing evocation of all those dogs without owners.
23. (Battersea Dogs and Cats Home are given three pages in the programme to promote their work.)
24. The non-singing halves of the puppets are equally valuable.
25. Yana Penrose and Ben Thompson play a big part in making the lead Dalmatians real.
26. Both are unwaveringly canine in their mannerisms and manipulate the puppets as though they have had a lifetime of rehearsal.
27. In the second act, four puppies are given the spotlight.
28. They are brought to life by a rotating cast of young performers.
29. Tonight, these are Harmony Cover-Allicock, Paul Sarte, Oscar Cox and Howard Webb.
30. These demanding puppy roles feature singing, choreography and comedy, but the young stars are brilliant.
31. The humans may not be the main draw, but the few featured are endearingly portrayed.
32. Karen Fishwick’s Danielle and Eric Stroud’s Dominic feel like your friends as the human romantic leads.
33. They exude wholesomeness, while maintaining flaws that prevent them being boring.
34. Of course, this show also features one of fiction’s great antagonists: Cruella De Vil.
35. Kate Fleetwood plays this part spectacularly.
36. Her voice provides some of the musical highlights of the show.
37. However, her delightfully silly take on pure evil is the best part of her performance.
38. She is camp throughout, and more than a little twisted.
39. For tonight’s performance, she even improvises around an unlucky audience member who chooses to head to the bathroom via Cruella’s spotlight.
40. Few performers are skilled enough to brandish a knife and threaten to skin alive puppies and nephews in a family show without traumatising the entire audience.
41. Interestingly, her character has been updated to be a social media agitator – the nadir of self-obsessed “influencer” culture.
42. There is also a smattering of “having a shocking opinion for money” pundit in this Cruella.
43. This breed of internet-savvy professional sociopath is becoming ever more commonplace, and it’s a clever move to take the character in this direction.
44. Whether we like it or not, children grow up with influencers presented as the pinnacle of success. Having a negative portrayal of that world attached to this beloved story is balancing, heavy-handed though it sometimes is.
45. Heavy-handedness is of course to be expected in a family show.
46. Incorporating such a political perspective at all is admirable.
47. Assisting Cruella are her inept nephews Jasper and Casper.
48. George Bukhari and Jonny Weldon make this pair the comic highlight of the night.
49. Though they are evildoers, they act from naivety and have much more heart than their Aunt Cruella.
50. Despite the unavoidable distancing of the outdoors and the puppetry, there is a decent amount of humanity on stage to root for.
51. Johnny McKnight and Zinnie Harris are responsible for the book and stage adaptation respectively.
52. This 101 Dalmatians differs from the beloved Disney version in many legally necessary ways.
53. It is based on the original 1956 book by Dodie Smith.
54. Character names might be new to you, but the plot basics will feel familiar.
55. The biggest creative swing is transposing the story to the modern day.
56. This allows for social satire with Cruella, but also helps younger audience members identify with the staged world.
57. The pace is zippy.
58. As great as it would have been to spend more time exploring the human characters, an hour per act feels about right for a family show.
59. Douglas Hodge’s music and lyrics are solid.
60. You may be most familiar with Hodge from his acting work, but he is also an accomplished writer and musician.
61. The score jumps around genre but has a much more British feel than some heavily Broadway-inspired new writing.
62. In particular, the dips into folk and music hall locate this musical squarely in the UK.
63. The 11-piece band led by Tarek Merchant play superbly, and regularly step onto stage to bolster the ensemble.
64. Special shout-out to trombone/guitar-player Samuel Morgan-Grahame who brings the house down with his brief Boris Johnson send-up in ‘The English Pub’.
65. Unfortunately, the Regent’s Park sound system cannot quite keep up with some of the faster patter songs – which is at times a little alienating. It would be interesting to hear a cast recording for these less intelligible moments.
66. It is fantastic to see a full 23 songs listed in the programme.
67. What is especially impressive is that the music persists throughout the Act II climax rather than reverting to dialogue for simplicity.
68. Not only do the climactic scenes incorporate music, but the songs elevate them.
69. It is wonderful that the Open Air Theatre has taken a risk and produced a piece of new musical writing.
70. New musicals rarely get this sort of opportunity on first airing, and hopefully many more will in future.
71. Having said that, the outdoor setting does make a first run especially challenging.
72. The show will go through some refining before we see it again, but this slightly rough version has a lot going for it.
73. The book and score are held together by some sterling work from the technical team.
74. Designer Colin Richmond’s set is similar to the theatre’s previous production of Legally Blonde in layout but is perhaps more effective in the details.
75. The stage is filled with enormous letters spelling the show’s title, with a cute dog collar forming the ‘0’.
76. This is effective marketing for the show – every pre-performance Instagram snap of the stage features the branding.
77. The letters are rearranged to form various scenic elements.
78. This binds the disparate settings of a park, a home, a pub, a laboratory, etc, and gives the show a distinctive visual identity.
79. Howard Hudson’s lighting design works in tandem to bring distinct atmosphere to each scene.
80. As the evening gets darker, Hudson’s work becomes more striking.
81. There is some particularly effective lighting in Act II as the adventuring dogs come face to face with a busy road.
82. This attention to detail is apparent in all elements of the production, including costumes.
83. Predictably, it is De Vil’s wardrobe that is most striking. Designer Katrina Lindsay’s work here is spectacular.
84. The costuming defines this modern-day adaptation’s character.
85. Rather than the vintage glamour of the Disney film, this Cruella suggests ‘Cool Britannia’ and more contemporary fashion.
86. Fur still features heavily of course, particularly in an incredible end of Act I look that drapes an entire staircase.
87. With so much happening onstage, Liam Steel has done an admirable job as choreographer.
88. Scenes can get busy, but that isn’t detrimental when trying to maintain the attention of youngsters outdoors.
89. Though big dances of the traditional musical theatre style are few and far between, what we do get is electric.
90. It is particularly exciting to see the entire auditorium utilised.
91. When it’s impossible to turn down the ‘house lights’, why not have dogs run around the audience?
92. All of this helps sustain audience connection.
93. Director Timothy Sheader has a difficult task marshalling the manifold elements of this complicated production into a cohesive whole that dazzles without being overwhelming.
94. 101 Dalmatians uses puppets to tell a story that necessarily centres non-human animals in a noisy outdoor auditorium with all the consequent issues of amplification and visual connection. The fact it connects so well is to Sheader’s credit.
95. This is a different experience to sitting a few feet away from an actor delivering a delicate monologue: this is a mad menagerie of a family musical that shoots for spectacle, not subtlety.
96. The performers bring emotional resonance to the noise. It would take quite a jaded theatregoer to not be touched at all by this story.
97. The show is new and not entirely spotless (damn, so close to a pun-free review), but there is so much joy here.
98. Any new musical is exciting, but one that can unite an audience of all ages is special and should be nurtured.
99. A couple of rows from me was a little girl wearing a full Dalmatian costume with a big smile on her face dancing along to every song in what might have been her first live musical theatre experience. It was magical.
100. And you don’t need one more reason to book your whole family tickets for this delightful new musical right this minute.

Ian Bowkett