101 Dalmatians the Musical has arrived at Norwich Theatre Royal and while the puppetry is spot on it lacks pace in parts. The original story was written by Dodie Smith in 1956, which was popularised by the 1961 Disney film. The musical currently touring the UK and Ireland is based on the production performed at Regent's Park Open Air Theatre in London in the summer of 2022.
101 Dalmatians the Musical (Image: Supplied) READ MORE: New Norfolk comedy festival to feature 50 acts including TV stars It follows Tom (Samuel Thomas) and Danielle (Jessie Elland), owners of Dalmatians Perdi and Pongo respectively, whose lives become intertwined when their dog leads get caught up in the park. Life is going paw-fectly for the couple until fashion designer Tom encounters Cruella De Vil (Faye Tozer) when he shows her some of his sketches. Cruella, dressed in a quite spectacular animal print cloak, then finds out that his dogs are having puppies and she goes dotty at the idea of a new coat.
Chaos ensues as she enlists her hapless nephews Casper (Charles Brunton) and Jasper (Danny Hendrix) to steal the puppies. The dogs are all puppets and the physicality of the performers who controlled them was spot on. 101 Dalmatians the Musical (Image: Supplied) Linford Johnson and Emma Thornett as Pongo and Perdi, respectively, effortlessly transitioned their canine characters from barks to bum sniffing.
The dogs all spoke and sang and while the latter worked in the comedy numbers, it was a bit odd seein.
