Jack and the Beanstalk – Everyman Theatre

The Everyman Rock ‘N’ Roll Panto, Jack and the Beanstalk An evening of pure joy, flying fairies, giants, Beanstalks and magical escapism and unbelievable musical talent.

With a cast of 8 high energy performers and 2 off stage understudies. This group is astoundingly talented. The musicians are visible throughout on a raised platform and I couldn’t believe how many instruments each performer was able to play, effortlessly interchanging from acting, to playing a flute then singing and dancing then onto guitar.

I have seen productions where the performance is lacking due to casting actors who are stronger at one of the disciplines but tonight this was not the case. Together they created a fantastic sound vocally and musically.

It was also a good eclectic balance of music from recent charts right the way back to The Beatles.

It is a well written, clever, fast paced, and a funny script executed beautifully by the team.

That being said, not your standard traditional pantomime, far from it. Obviously, we have the goodie and the baddie and good overcoming evil in the end, with a happily ever after, but other than the planting of the beans creating the beanstalk and the name Jack there are many unexpected twists and turns in the tale.

From the opening scene immersing us in an imaginary land. Fairy Spacecake, Adam Keast carries us through a good chunk of the first act, employing the traditional aspects of audience participation. He is engaging and likeable.

The set is creative and visually impressive particularly the electronic elements.

The performance was aided by British sign language throughout which is a lovely touch, if not slightly distracting due to placement in parts.

Just a couple of points to note:

The cast for some reason used hand held microphones for the singing, which felt strange, out of place and distracting, it also didn’t work in parts because of the choreography and microphone technique some vocal was lost. I can’t understand why they didn’t have head mics for the whole performance. I also wasn’t a big fan of the costuming, I just felt it could’ve been more flattering and appear higher end visually.

It might also be worth a mention that my seat in the theatre wasn’t a normal chair, it was similar to a high stool, which wasn’t the most comfortable and wouldn’t be ideal for some viewers.

It’s very hard to single out any performer, Jack and Jill, Malek Alkoni and Amy Bastani were great in their roles, as was Theo Diedrick as Roginald. The quirky Ruby, a standout performance from Rebecca Levy, vocally impeccable.

Thank you once again to The Everyman for their kind hospitality.

Please support this show, get tickets while you can. Performances run from 15th November 2025 to 17th January 2026. https://everymanplayhouse.com/event/the-rock-n-roll-panto-2025-jack-and-the-beanstalk/

Reviewer: Rebecca Casey

Reviewed: 20th November 2025

North West End UK Rating: