King's Theatre,
Edinburgh
Three stars
It's telling that
King's panto stalwart Allan Stewart's final solo number of his
two-hour top light entertainment extravaganza is accompanied by a
series of projected images of his colourful show-business back
pages. It's even more so that the images give way to a pictorial
roll-call of bygone comedy greats. As Stewart does an impression of
each, it's as if he's taking stock, not just of his own successful
career that has seen him make the move from club turn to TV star to
panto legend, but of a bygone form that refuses to lie down and die.
By drafting in his
yuletide sparring partners, Andy Gray and Grant Stott, Stewart can
play with their comedic chemistry further, while vintage-styled
female sextet, The Tootsie Rollers, ventriloquist Paul Zerdin and
Britain's Got Talent graduate Edward Reid make up a full and
versatile supporting cast. There is also a big-voiced star turn from
Kate Stewart, daughter of the show's eponymous head-liner himself.
As Stewart croons his
way into proceedings, he's usurped by Gray and Stott with a running
gag about Stott's That's Fife song. The Tootsie Rollers apply a
glamorous Andrews Sisters spin on the work of Britney and Kylie,
though a version of Robin Thicke's Blurred Lines remains as
unreconstructed as some of the gags elsewhere. Reid's defining
evocation of pop divas singing nursery rhymes more than compensates,
as does Stewart's impression of Michael Jackson doing George Formby
songs. Best of all is a routine that casts Stewart, Gray and Stott as
entendre-heavy musical trio, The MacRobert Brothers. Folk in hell indeed in a packed-out
evening of fun and frolics.
The Herald, March 7th 2014
ends
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