Telegraph
5 stars out of 5
Mother Goose, review: Sir Ian delivers eye-rubbing wow-factor as the greatest of panto dames
If this is to be Ian McKellen’s swansong, then his bravura pantomime turn as Mother Goose is a fitting end to a glorious theatrical career
ByDominic Cavendish, THEATRE CRITIC
There’s nothing like a dame: John Bishop and Ian McKellen in Mother Goose CREDIT: Manuel Harlan
Ian McKellen’s Mother Goose arrives on stage in a headscarf and curlers, fake bosom protruding, tottering as if under the weight of make-up, and pretend-walking a fluffball dog on a lead, to a huge round of applause. He departs more than two hours later in a storm of confetti, having crooned, tap-danced and even snogged for our delectation, to a deserved standing ovation.
Having made news, and theatrical history, as our oldest Dane – following up a full-strength Hamlet last year at Windsor with a more diluted dance version in Edinburgh this August – the 83-year-old Sir Ian (camply known among devotees as “Serena”, a nickname tartly dropped in here) now lets his hair down and has a ball as, it’s thought, Britain’s oldest panto dame.
He played Widow Twankey in an Old Vic Aladdin circa 2004. But he was in his 60s then. This time, valiantly bringing panto into the West End, then off on a tour until Easter, isn’t he literally risking busting a gut, costume-changing a go-go, delivering buckets of sauce and even a round of Shakespeare? That’s all part of the eye-rubbing wow-factor. The deluxe turn continues a tradition stretching back to fabled music-hall wiz Dan Leno. Equally, the man known to millions as Gandalf (duly joshed about) is reflecting on his stardom, and his roots, too.
“It’s the Grand Theatre in Bolton and I’m eight years old,” he confides in one break-out moment, in which he’s somehow in-character and yet not. “I’m watching my first pantomime and I’m entranced. I wanted to be up here, the centre of attention.” That seriousness is punctured by his warbling, awfully, Annie’s Tomorrow, but the point is effectively made. This foray represents a coming full circle; a love-letter to what counts.
In a storyline studded with meta irony, his character, Caroline, co-runs a bonkers animal sanctuary in the defunct Debenhams on Oxford Street (smashing sets all round, with sharp, topical barbs about the trashed economy and the energy crisis).
This gruffly northern matriarch, her hubby Vic (radiant, effortlessly funny Scouser John Bishop) and son Jack (affable Oscar Conlon-Morrey), get rich thanks to golden-egg laying Cilla Quack (a fantastically on-song Anna-Jane Casey). But, as part of a cosmic battle, Caroline is tempted by the whip-cracking bad fairy Malignia (Karen Mavundukure) to wade into the pool of dreams and fulfil that fame-lust. Cue extravagantly attired ego-mania at the Oscars, culminating in McKellen ludicrously prancing to Right Said Fred’s I’m Too Sexy and the belated realisation that true happiness lies with those you love – a message sealed by an audience singalong to Sweet Caroline.
Sure, it’s flimsier stuff than the best, time-honoured fairy-tale classics and, albeit witty, the script, by Bishop’s fellow Liverpudlian Jonathan Harvey, indulges in copious innuendo, along with in-jokes about Derek Jacobi and Judi Dench. But offsetting that tot-befuddling vibe, the whole shiny shebang, directed by Cal McCrystal, is delivered with such warm-hearted zest, festooned with feelgood pop-hit and musicals-derived numbers, it’s hard to imagine anyone failing to benefit from taking a gander. And if there’s a poignant take-home message, it’s that where McKellen’s younger self was the child of repressive times, the mother of all liberated kisses at the end (him, Bishop) flags that the world changed, for the better. If this is McKellen’s swansong, what a happy and glorious way to go.
Times
4 stars out of 5
Mother Goose review — Ian McKellen delivers knockabout fun in a cheerfully chaotic show
Theatre Royal, Brighton
★★★★☆
He looked fetching in a demure assortment of gowns, his bust was suitably pneumatic and he even gave us a brief demonstration of how to declaim Shakespearean verse. Ian McKellen had no end of fun in this cheerfully chaotic show, packed full with scattergun gags, which is breaking with convention by going on the road until April. In bleak and cynical times, it’s the kind of knockabout entertainment that we need.
I won’t attempt to summarise Jonathan Harvey’s script, which introduced us to an animal sanctuary for animal waifs and strays run by McKellen’s insouciant Caroline Goose and her harassed husband, Vic. He was played by the comedian John Bishop, who ventured on stage on his own at the start to deliver a characteristically laid-back address in which he reminded us, rightly, that we’ve just passed through a once-in-a lifetime period in which live entertainment was a genuine rarity: “There’s a thousand of us here. It’s not so long ago you couldn’t have six in the garden.”
Given that this opening show in the run was taking place in Brighton, a town devoted to alternative lifestyles, he might have been tempted to say “sex” instead. McKellen certainly didn’t miss an opportunity to crack a risqué joke about the locals. The lines flew over the heads of the few children I could see in the stalls. The adults, meanwhile, were having a high old time.
Who else was the butt of humour in Cal McCrystal’s breezy production? Well, Liz Truss got off lightly, there was a glimpse of a pig that had a decidedly Johnsonian manner, and there was a cheerfully irreverent cameo by a youthful replica of the Queen Consort. Oh, and the reference to “Cruella Braverman” got a hearty laugh too. Meghan and Harry and Elon Musk made an appearance as well, but only in the cheeky series of photos of McKellen gatecrashing the red carpet set at the start of the second act.
By that stage I’d lost my way in the storyline as the menagerie of animal characters wandered here and there. Not that it mattered, especially with Anna-Jane Casey, taking the part of a goose called Cilla Quack, embarking on a thunderous version of Don’t Rain On My Parade. Bishop was a good sport throughout, helping to lead the singalongs and landing a smacker of a kiss on McKellen’s lips. The choreographer Lizzi Gee added an affectionate tribute to Busby Berkeley’s cinematic spectaculars, and Sharon Ballard’s good fairy gave us a blast of Tina Turner on River Deep — Mountain High before finally finding true love with Karen Mavundukure’s bad fairy. McKellen, meanwhile, was looking fabulous as a dead ringer for a miniskirted Geri Halliwell, circa 1995. Does any other actor have his range?Duke of York’s Theatre, WC2, December 15 to Jan 29 and touring, mothergooseshow.co.uk
Whats on Stage
4 stars out of 5
Mother Goose starring Ian McKellen and John Bishop – review
The star-studded pantomime hits the West End stage later this week
UK and Ireland Tour12 December 2022
Is this the most hotly anticipated pantomime of them all? Though almost every regional theatre has its own festive fare, and this won’t even be the only Mother Goose in a five mile radius when it opens at the Duke of York’s Theatre later this month, it has already planned to tour long beyond Christmas Day. Such is the demand to see Gandalf in a dress.
The draw, of course, is the return of beloved theatrical stalwart Ian McKellen to a pair of kitten heels as pantomime dame and titular heroine, Mother Goose. The generous proprietress of an animal shelter, Caroline Goose is given the chance to forsake her principles in exchange for fame and fortune that will transform her from homespun housewife to international superstar in one of pantomime’s more transparent moral tales.
Trading in skulls and daggers for hair-rollers and rouge, there seems to be no role to which McKellen can’t bring profundity and pathos. Even with affectionate nods to his well-loved wizardry in the Lord of the Rings franchise, and an opportunity for some Shakespeare, it’s everything you’d never expect from the acting titan that proves the most thrilling. Whether fronting a tap number with faux exhaustion or arriving in lingerie to play a surprisingly racy boudoir scene, McKellen appears to be having enormous fun and his performance is a privilege to enjoy.
Opposite him as devoted husband Vic Goose, John Bishop is the perfect straight man in every sense, while the endlessly expressive Oscar Conlon-Morrey plays their son, Jack, with nothing short of unfaltering commitment. Both Conlon-Morrey and company standout Genevieve Nicole are perfect for panto and at the height of their powers here as they render ‘camp’ a high art. An ensemble of eccentric, anthropomorphised animals (wittily attired by Liz Ascroft) offer an abundance of talent, amongst which Richard Leeming’s bat is a dry, offbeat highlight.
Though surely precious few are equipped to steal a scene from McKellen’s capable hands, Anna-Jane Casey enters stage left and drops into an immediate split, determined to do just that. A late addition to the cast, Casey arrives fresh from a tonally polar-opposite performance in Cabaret, and is utterly joyous here as Cilla Quack, a perimenopausal goose in crocs. Casey lands the definitive musical moment of the show with a barnstorming rendition of “Don’t Rain on My Parade” in the second act.
The songs chosen draw largely from golden age musical theatre and 80s power ballads. Though entirely unexpected, McKellen’s heartfelt few bars of “Tomorrow” are surprisingly affecting. Scorching vocals are delivered meanwhile by Sharon Ballard and Karen Mavundukure, though the latter’s fairy villainess is somewhat dwarfed by the broader characterisations onstage.
Between riotous laughs, it is easy to question how much of this show, though billed as a family pantomime, has actually been conceived with children in mind. The heavy helping of innuendo may fly squarely over the heads of the younger audience members, but they remain surprisingly uncatered to, save for an early slop scene and Simbi Akande gamely pratfalling off a bench. Even the obligatory audience singalong opts for a drunken football chant.
Jonathan Harvey has penned this purposefully, a reasonably politicised script that namechecks various Conservative MPs and offers playful allegories for ongoing social issues. In some ways more musical comedy than pantomime, there is surprisingly little audience participation but plenty of projectiles. This is, perhaps, the theatregoers’ pantomime, a little more sophisticated, genuinely sincere and bursting with musical talent. Long-time abstainers of the genre will be hard-pressed to keep from beaming.
The Stage
5 stars out of 5
“A solid gold hit”
Flawless writing, excellent design and matchless performances
When Ian McKellen first played dame in pantomime in 2004 at the Old Vic, it was clear that this was a genre he adored. His presence in Aladdin blew away the erroneous preconception that the form had become the preserve of either the comic or the soap star. So the only thing that should be surprising about his return is that it has taken so long to come around.
Mother Goose celebrates its 120th anniversary this year, and panto legends Berwick Kaler in York and Clive Rowe in Hackney are also tackling the title role, which is considered the King Lear of dames. In Brighton, ahead of a tour that runs through to Easter, McKellen’s performance in Cal McCrystal’s production is solid gold.
From his first entrance as Caroline Goose – hair in curlers and sporting a floral housecoat – McKellen exudes warmth and good humour. Jonathan Harvey’s tight but playful script presents the heroine as the owner of an animal sanctuary and surrounds her with a menagerie of misfit creatures.
Her husband Vic (a game John Bishop) and son Jack (Oscar Conlon-Morrey) are supportive but strapped for cash, until one day, a goose turns up who lays golden eggs. The Goose family fortunes turn, but Caroline is in fact a pawn in a playoff between ethereal forces, namely Sharon Ballard’s Encanta, the good fairy, and Malignia, played with whip-cracking efficacy by Karen Mavundukure.
McCrystal’s unfussy, confident direction is complemented by Liz Ascroft’s colourful set design and thoughtfully constructed costumes, with McKellen’s transformation from housewife to Hollywood A-lister a Lady Gaga-inspired triumph.
The musical numbers veer from classic Broadway to Boomshakalaka via several killer disco anthems, and Harvey writes so evenly and with such investment in his characters that there are simply no weak links. There’s even a Shakespearean sonnet from the most unexpected of sources that melts the heart.
McKellen, Bishop and Conlon-Morrey make a loving, entertainingly dysfunctional family, besieged by a wacky bunch of waifs and strays. Among them, Richard Leeming’s sexually inappropriate Bat and Genevieve Nicole’s assertive Puss in Boots deserve honourable mentions.
However, nothing can compare to the sheer force of nature that is Anna-Jane Casey as Cilla Quack, the truly gifted goose who can tap-dance in crocs and belt out a showstopper between dropping 24-carat eggs.
Producer Ambassador Theatre Group has stated that this production of Mother Goose doesn’t herald a return to full-on pantomime production. But in the theatre ecosystem, pantomime can often be the goose that lays the golden egg. Judging by the sheer exuberance of this creative team and the magic they have produced, I would be very surprised if this were the last pantomime produced by ATG.