Last Updated on 16 May 2024 by Colette
This post features a gifted experience & affiliate links
If you’re looking for a traditional panto this festive season, look no further than Opera House Manchester where Jason Manford returns to lead the cast in Jack and the Beanstalk, joined by Britain’s Got Talent finalist Ben Nickless (who returns for his 5th year) as Silly Simon.
Despite spending over an hour in traffic and arriving to the Opera House late and decidedly harassed, from the minute we sat down (about 15 minutes into the show) we were fully invested and laughing along – it was like a warm and familiar hug in that you know what to expect from a panto so you were able to just slot right in with the fun not worrying that you might have missed a crucial part of the storyline – not that I’m of course advocating being late for the theatre, just more that I felt instantly relaxed and able to join in.
Although we’ve seen lots of pantos over the years, it’s been a long time since we saw a panto at Opera House Manchester -in fact so long ago that I don’t think Amy has ever been! I was immediately struck by amazing scenery and lighting – the production values are next level and really add wow factor to the whole experience.
In fact everything about Jack and the Beanstalk at Opera House Manchester was polished, professional and pretty much perfect! Even the bits that weren’t perfect – which are typically my favourite bits of panto, you know when the cast lose it a bit and just start laughing at each other, or when a prop breaks, or they slip up during the tongue twister – all of which happened last night and just added layers of hilarity for us in the audience and made it clear that the performers were enjoying their work too!
Although there are lots of very traditional panto elements included in this year’s pantomime, there is no traditional panto dame in this version of Jack and the Beanstalk. Jack’s mother isn’t mentioned but instead he has a brother (Silly Simon) who takes on elements of the mother’s role such as throwing the magic beans out of the window.
Jason Manford as Jack and Ben Nickless as Silly Simon make for a fantastic comedy duo with much of the show being focussed on them and a range of different comedy skits woven through the traditional tale of Jack and the Beanstalk. In fact it felt like the story of Jack and the Beanstalk itself was just a very loose framework for getting in as many silly jokes and routines as possible – and I wasn’t sad about that!
Whilst this year’s Jack and the Beanstalk doesn’t have a traditional panto dame, it does have the utterly fabulous, award winning Myra DuBois as Myra Bluderbore – the Giant’s wife. She has quite possibly one of the best evil cackles I’ve heard and her interaction with the audience was spot on – I won’t spoil it for you but she’s fabulously dressed in a constantly changing array of “expensive” outfits and just very very funny.
Silly Simon is, as his name suggests, very silly – which is hilarious for us in the audience and infuriating for Jack. We absolutely loved his milk man song where he told us all the areas of Manchester he had been delivering milk – listening carefully to see if he mentioned our little bit of Manchester and then seeing Amy really excited when he did! And, his version of Live Aid which showcased his incredible range of impressions was brilliant – Ben especially liked that.
Jason Manford had the audience in the palm of his hand from the very start of the show. Through a mixture of song (I had no idea he had such a set of pipes on him), silliness and off-script moments he carried us along with him through the pantomime.
There was plenty of traditional panto slapstick silliness and of course lots of very cheeky jokes and references that went right over Amy’s head (she’s 10) but absolutely landed for Ben (at 14) who is loving panto in a whole new way this year.
The kids and I all commented on what a lively audience it was last night – we had a group of men behind us who were clearly a bit drunk and were pretty loud which I must admit was annoying me through the first half as I found it a bit distracting – but we had a bit of a chat with them in the interval and they were really lovely blokes on their work’s Christmas night out! One of the gentleman told me he hadn’t been to panto in about 20 years, since his own children were young and that he hadn’t actually been looking forward to it but was absolutely loving it! At the end of the performance he told me it was one of the funniest things that he’d seen in years – and that’s the thing about panto isn’t it, it’s not just for the kids!
Running from Saturday 2nd to Saturday 31st December 2023 – You can book tickets for Jack and the Beanstalk at Opera House Manchester online now.
If you’re looking for parking near Manchester Opera House, you’ll find that here and you might find this list of the best restaurants near Manchester Opera House handy too!
For more Christmas theatre in Manchester this year, check out this post next.
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