Palladium Panto 2022 - Jack and the Beanstalk

[FrontroverPaul]

Dec 15, 2022 16:36:09 GMT Figaro said:

Has anyone sat in the extreme sides of row C of the stalls that have recently been put on sale for £29.50?

I actually sat briefly in all 12 of the £22.50 / £29.50 seats after Wednesday's matinee and concluded that row A was marginally the worst view, as reflected in the pricing, because the back of the stage can't be seen. C3 & C4 seemed the least restricted and also have no seats directly in front. C34 and C35 almost the same.

I had already booked A24 and A25 for a second visit with my better half.  Only C3 was left of the 12 cheapies for that performance so I went to the Box Office and asked if I could exchange A25 for C3 and pay the difference, which was okayed. The person who served me said he had sat there himself with no issues, which was nice to hear. I also paid a £3 admin fee so £10 altogether to switch.

We often sit apart to get better seats and missing some of what happens at the back of the stage won't matter to me, being in A24 for a repeat visit. I just hope seeing Nigel Havers in his birthday suit won't be too exciting for her !

[leanne23]

Has anyone sat in the front row of the Grand Circle - how is the view? 

[A.Ham]

Very specific question for you guys - if I book for this mainly to see Alexandra sing Hallelujah, will I be able to see her clearly from those cheap side stalls seats you’ve been discussing?!

[Dr Tom]

Dec 17, 2022 12:00:15 GMT A.Ham said:

Very specific question for you guys - if I book for this mainly to see Alexandra sing Hallelujah, will I be able to see her clearly from those cheap side stalls seats you’ve been discussing?!

Yes, I sat there and she sings at the front, so you'll be fine.

She has a wonderful voice and it was a pleasure to hear her sing. Unfortunately though, this is panto, so you might also have a bloke with a less developed voice joining in from the row behind (as I had). They also split the song a bit around other action, so it's not quite a concert performance.

Incidentally, I saw the show earlier in the week. Enjoyable as always. Front row, high numbers end, the very cheap seats, the bangs were a bit irritating (we didn't get the first one, but there were plenty of others). You can see enough of the show to not feel like you're missing anything and you do get eye contact from the cast (but not enough to be singled out - or perhaps I just didn't look funny enough to pick on). There was only one scene with everyone making fun of Nigel that I just couldn't follow properly as I couldn't see the prop being used. Still, a much preferred seat to when I was sat at the back of the Stalls a while back. Julian is very much the star, as every year. Such a funny man and it is was so kind of him to help Jack grow his stalk.

[mrbarnaby]

Dec 17, 2022 12:00:15 GMT A.Ham said:

Very specific question for you guys - if I book for this mainly to see Alexandra sing Hallelujah, will I be able to see her clearly from those cheap side stalls seats you’ve been discussing?!

Should she be worried ?

[A.Ham]

Dec 17, 2022 15:28:26 GMT mrbarnaby said:

Dec 17, 2022 12:00:15 GMT A.Ham said:

Very specific question for you guys - if I book for this mainly to see Alexandra sing Hallelujah, will I be able to see her clearly from those cheap side stalls seats you’ve been discussing?!

Should she be worried ?

Hahaha! Absolutely not. I can assure you she’s really not my type, but I have followed her career and seen her in most of the musicals she’s done. Would be nice to see her in this but debating whether it’s worth it that’s all 😊

[A.Ham]

Dec 17, 2022 12:42:30 GMT Dr Tom said:

Dec 17, 2022 12:00:15 GMT A.Ham said:

Very specific question for you guys - if I book for this mainly to see Alexandra sing Hallelujah, will I be able to see her clearly from those cheap side stalls seats you’ve been discussing?!

Yes, I sat there and she sings at the front, so you'll be fine.

She has a wonderful voice and it was a pleasure to hear her sing. Unfortunately though, this is panto, so you might also have a bloke with a less developed voice joining in from the row behind (as I had). They also split the song a bit around other action, so it's not quite a concert performance.

Fantastic, that’s really helpful. Thank you!

[ShoreditchTom]

Not sure if this is new or I missed it before but they seem to be doing day seats for £25 via the button on this page:
palladiumpantomime.com/ticket-info

You can currently get £25 seats for either of the Tuesday performances via the day seat link (which suggests the logic isn't quite 11am the day of performance as it says) but only seems to be single seats.. not sure if that will be the case for all day seats or just the fact that only single seats are left on Tuesday...

[FrontroverPaul]

Dec 17, 2022 12:00:15 GMT A.Ham said:

Very specific question for you guys - if I book for this mainly to see Alexandra sing Hallelujah, will I be able to see her clearly from those cheap side stalls seats you’ve been discussing?!

From my recollection Alexandra does not sing the whole of Hallelujah, I think it was about two minutes and omitted the more adult part of the song. If I'm wrong hopefully someone will say.

[bobbievanhusen]

Dec 18, 2022 22:56:09 GMT ShoreditchTom said:

Not sure if this is new or I missed it before but they seem to be doing day seats for £25 via the button on this page:
palladiumpantomime.com/ticket-info

You can currently get £25 seats for either of the Tuesday performances via the day seat link (which suggests the logic isn't quite 11am the day of performance as it says) but only seems to be single seats.. not sure if that will be the case for all day seats or just the fact that only single seats are left on Tuesday...

Thank you!

I just nabbed a single stalls seat for Tuesday.

[Mark]

This was quite possible the perfect panto. It had a bit of everything. So so good, and I'm curious to see how Mother Goose compares.

They've ran through a lot of the big panto titles since the relaunch, so curious what next years will be. Maybe Sleeping Beauty or Peter Pan.

[appoul]

New Year deal on their website, tickets reduced up to 50%.

[edi]

I got a £25 day-seat, apparently released at 11 am on their website, in reality I got it around 10.15 am this morning. Very good seats, row K central stalls, directly behind the bean stalk.

This was my very first 'real' panto, considering my partner said the 2020 NT panto wasn't 'real'. For my uninitiated eyes, this was more like a variety show versus theatre, nonetheless I got hooked and I may make it into a Christmas tradition.

So much fun and such an eye-candy of a show.

[musicbox]

I seen this tonight on a Row B restricted view seat tonight for just £20, I always think the restricted view seats at the front of the palladium are worth it as you don't really miss anything unless it's right at the back of the stage and I had a brilliant view.

I'll be honest and say I really am not a pantomime person at all and my main reason for going was that I've been following Alexandra Burke since her recording artist days and have seen her in everything she's been in, but I was really pleasantly surprised by this - it was great!

I've never paid much attention to Julian Clarey, but he was hilarious and made a great double act with Dawn and Nigel. The one thing I didn't enjoy was being a bit stunned during some of the sound effects due to being near the speaker, but I can't really complain as you need to expect this.

Needless to say that Alexandra was wonderful as always! I was hoping for more of her, but the fact that she's doing all of this after just giving birth with virtually no break is really admirable and I loved her performance of Hallelujah. I was so disheartened 10 years ago when Mr Cowell effectively blacklisted Alexandra from UK radio and stunted her career for a moment after she left his label, so I'm really glad that she's carved a brilliant theatre career for herself.

The Palladium staff are always brilliant, but tonight one of them was a bit needlessly rude to me, but I won't go into that one negative point and will say overall I really enjoyed myself tonight!

[Being Alive]

I've got two row B stalls seats for this afternoon going spare if anyone wants to go! Paid £29.50 each but would take £20 each just so they're not wasted!

[partytentdown]

(delete)

[jj9692]

Caught the show on Friday night. Second time seeing the Palladium panto, with the last one being Snow White.

And it was absolutely fantastic.

It really is Julians show.
Can't get "veggies here, veggies regret, Nigel likes it fresh" out of my head.


Really makes my local Crossroads panto in Belfast look really pathetic in comparison. If we had Jack and the Beanstalk this year I would put money on the beanstalk being a rope and a step ladder.

My boyfriend really didn't know what to expect as he's not a huge fan of panto. but he absolutely loved it. He said it was as if they made this as the more adult friendly panto compared to our more child orientated local panto.

Really looking forward to finding out what next year's panto is.

[thistimetomorrow]

This was my reintroduction to pantos (the last one I saw was a local amateur production over a decade ago that put me off pantos so much I hadn't returned until now) and I had such a good time. It really is such a visual spectacle. Some of the jokes didn't quite hit and a few of the gags ran on for a bit too long, but I think overall it was a really fun night. 4 stars

Also now I'm quite sad I didn't catch Louis Gaunt as Bert in Mary Poppins.

[longinthetooth]

I don't know what's wrong with me. Ever since I returned to theatregoing post-Covid I haven't loved a single show or wanted to go back. I was at the Palladium this afternoon, and this was no different. The beanstalk was spectacular, you could see where the money had gone, but I was really disappointed with the panto as a whole. It was just the same old, same old - amusing but that's all. I have been to every Palladium panto since 2016, so maybe I'm getting bored with them, I don't know. I thought the cast seemed a bit bored with the whole thing too. I hadn't seen Louis Gaunt before and was quite impressed with him, though, and Paul Zerdin's sketch with the kids was hysterical (I presume Child 4 was a set-up?), so it wasn't all bad! I need to get my theatre mojo back!

[appoul]

Jan 11, 2023 23:16:19 GMT longinthetooth said:

I don't know what's wrong with me. Ever since I returned to theatregoing post-Covid I haven't loved a single show or wanted to go back. I was at the Palladium this afternoon, and this was no different. The beanstalk was spectacular, you could see where the money had gone, but I was really disappointed with the panto as a whole. It was just the same old, same old - amusing but that's all. I have been to every Palladium panto since 2016, so maybe I'm getting bored with them, I don't know. I thought the cast seemed a bit bored with the whole thing too. I hadn't seen Louis Gaunt before and was quite impressed with him, though, and Paul Zerdin's sketch with the kids was hysterical (I presume Child 4 was a set-up?), so it wasn't all bad! I need to get my theatre mojo back!

Did Child 4 say that he lives in South Kensington?

[longinthetooth]

Jan 11, 2023 23:26:10 GMT appoul said:

Jan 11, 2023 23:16:19 GMT longinthetooth said:

I don't know what's wrong with me. Ever since I returned to theatregoing post-Covid I haven't loved a single show or wanted to go back. I was at the Palladium this afternoon, and this was no different. The beanstalk was spectacular, you could see where the money had gone, but I was really disappointed with the panto as a whole. It was just the same old, same old - amusing but that's all. I have been to every Palladium panto since 2016, so maybe I'm getting bored with them, I don't know. I thought the cast seemed a bit bored with the whole thing too. I hadn't seen Louis Gaunt before and was quite impressed with him, though, and Paul Zerdin's sketch with the kids was hysterical (I presume Child 4 was a set-up?), so it wasn't all bad! I need to get my theatre mojo back!

Did Child 4 say that he lives in South Kensington?

Yes he did.

[musicbox]

Jan 11, 2023 23:16:19 GMT longinthetooth said:

I don't know what's wrong with me. Ever since I returned to theatregoing post-Covid I haven't loved a single show or wanted to go back. I was at the Palladium this afternoon, and this was no different. The beanstalk was spectacular, you could see where the money had gone, but I was really disappointed with the panto as a whole. It was just the same old, same old - amusing but that's all. I have been to every Palladium panto since 2016, so maybe I'm getting bored with them, I don't know. I thought the cast seemed a bit bored with the whole thing too. I hadn't seen Louis Gaunt before and was quite impressed with him, though, and Paul Zerdin's sketch with the kids was hysterical (I presume Child 4 was a set-up?), so it wasn't all bad! I need to get my theatre mojo back!

At the show I went to Paul said at the end of the sketch "Don't worry, he's part of the show!", after he ran back on at the end.

[longinthetooth]

Jan 11, 2023 23:49:27 GMT musicbox said:

At the show I went to Paul said at the end of the sketch "Don't worry, he's part of the show!", after he ran back on at the end.

Ah! Paul did say something which I didn't catch, and the little boy did come back on stage.

[cherokee]

Jan 11, 2023 0:23:43 GMT jj9692 said:

Really makes my local Crossroads panto in Belfast look really pathetic in comparison. If we had Jack and the Beanstalk this year I would put money on the beanstalk being a rope and a step ladder.

To be fair to your local panto, I imagine if they were able to sell tickets for £150, they could afford a more spectacular beanstalk as well.

[Figaro]

I’m not sure Paul could have done what he did to child 4 if he was a random kid from the audience!