Kym Marsh is bad and loving it as she's found her calling
Since I was a girl 101 Dalmatians has been a favourite film of mine. So when I was offered the chance to see it on the stage at the Liverpool Empire, with Kym Marsh playing, in my opinion, the most iconic villain of all time, Cruella De Vil, I would have been barking mad not to accept.
For those who have been living under a rock their whole lives, 101 Dalmatians is the story of how an evil fashion designer plots to steal Dalmatian puppies to create the fur outfit of her dreams, but her criminal plot comes back to bite her, quite literally.
Now I know people say you shouldn’t eavesdrop but when I heard a gentleman behind me in the audience mutter something about Kym Marsh, I found myself wholeheartedly agreeing with him.
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Because, in this adaptation of the Disney film, the moment Kym Marsh entered the stage, in her devilishly high knee boots, wearing a striking giraffe animal print ensemble, Cruella’s trademark two tone black and white hair and laughing with that evil cackle heard only in nightmares, it was clear for the whole audience to see, the former Coronation Street actress really had, as the gentleman said, ‘found her calling’.
The plotline is not too dissimilar to the film which I enjoyed as a child and I liked the subtle role reversal of Tom, played by Samuel Thomas, Pongo's owner, being the clothes designer hoping for a big break in the world of fashion, as opposed to Danielle, Perdi's owner, who has that job in the film.
I was creased by the quick-witted humour, punchy one liners and general tomfoolery of the characters. Cruella’s bumbling nephews Casper and Jasper, played by Charles Brunton and Danny Hendrix, deserve a special mention as their love hate relationship with their ‘Aunt C’ gave the audience no end of laughs.
A burning question I’d had before the show was answered almost immediately when I saw Dalmatian Pongo, played by Linford Johnson, on stage. I’d assumed the dogs would be played by actors in costume, but how they were actually portrayed went far beyond my expectations.
Amazingly the dogs (and cats!) are life size puppets which were so cleverly manoeuvred around stage by the actors and actresses I found myself almost forgetting that they weren't real animals. The sets, although well transitioned from scene to scene, were not as elaborate as I thought they would have been. However they needn’t have been because of how well written the script was.
The audience, which was a great mix of young and old, were engrossed from the get-go by the dialogue and musical numbers. It was lovely to hear adults and children giggling throughout the show and it felt like the jokes catered well to the varied audience. Even ‘Boris Johnson’ made an appearance, but that was more of a horrific nightmare than a joke for me.
I don’t know if it was because I was just having such a good time that I was unable to feel sad at one particular scene that was designed as a tearjerker, but which I felt was a little misplaced in what had been such a high tempo and fun production from the outset.
That said, former Hear’Say singer Kym Marsh’s deliverance of Cruella was ‘simply divine darling’, especially her ‘transformation’ on stage which had the audience in fits of laughter. So it’s pure and simple, (sorry I couldn’t help myself) book tickets to see 101 Dalmatians at the Liverpool Empire and you didn’t hear it from me, but you’ll be very surprised by the ending.