Theatre reviews: Jack and the Beanstalk | Jack and the Beanstalk | Aladdin

Jack and The Beanstalk, Festival Theatre, Edinburgh ★★★★

Jack and The Beanstalk, Dundee Rep ★★★

Aladdin, Byre Theatre, St Andrews ★★★★

It’s been a late start for the Capital Theatres pantomime this year; but now here it comes, blazing across the big Festival Theatre stage in a dazzle of ever-shifting and wildly exciting LED light.

The Edinburgh panto, though, also rejoices in a cast with all the strength, experience and star quality necessary to outshine the brightest of stage lights; and in Jack and The Beanstalk, the classic Edinburgh trio of Allan Stewart, Grant Stott and Jordan Young are absolutely in their element, revelling in three characters - dotty Dame Trott, giant’s henchman Fleshcreep, and amiable Jack - that fit their stage personalities to perfection.

At just two hours and 15 minutes, this Jack and The Beanstalk offers an action-packed evening, with plenty of daft comedy and traditional panto set-pieces - the tongue-twisters are particularly impressive - but also a strong showbiz sense of the need to drive the show along to a swift and spectacular conclusion.

Visually, the show could hardly be more impressive, with a mind-blowing beanstalk scene to round off the first half, and a terrific animatronic giant in the second. Beyond all the dazzling effects, though, it’s finally people who make panto; and this remains a show anchored in Edinburgh, full of local jokes and cheerful Hibs-Hearts rivalry, and designed to bring not only light but some real emotional warmth, on a chill winter’s night.

Dundee Rep’s version of Jack and The Beanstalk - billed as “A New Moosical” - takes a radically different approach, as the Glasgow writing team of Jonathan O’Neill and Isaac Savage reshape the traditional storyline, and put the cow, a Highland coo called Caroline, at the centre of the story.

Their version of the tale involves a family backstory so complicated that it takes about 40 minutes to reach the point where the cow is sold off, in this case to a prison-like petting zoo. Caroline, though, soon radicalises her fellow pets and stages an escape; and with Suzie McAdam turning in a blazing star performance as Caroline, and the audience cheering her on, we finally reach the heart of the story, as Jack and his mum Sherry become addicted to the wealth Jack finds at the top of the beanstalk, and Jack briefly turns into a very nasty piece of work.

What’s strange about this Jack and the Beanstalk is its tendency to graft a late-20th-century big-musical sensibility - full of showcase numbers and big emotional anthems - onto a panto story with a very different mood.

Thanks to some big, generous performances, though - including one from Dundee patron Brian Cox as the recorded voice of the giant - the story retains plenty of rollicking panto energy; and the audience responds with real warmth, to a show that perhaps turns the page towards a new generation, in Scottish Christmas theatre.

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There’s a more familiar panto vibe, though, in the Byre Theatre’s 2025 Aladdin, written and directed by Bard In The Botanics boss Gordon Barr. Some elements of the traditional story are missing here; there’s no Princess Jasmine, the show is set in Fife, and the magic lamp is replaced by a mystical flagon of Irn Bru.

Otherwise, though the panto structure remains intact, as Allan Steele’s outrageous Widow McSwanky dominates the stage in her remarkable outfits, and her boy Aladdin - a multi-talented Kyle Gardiner - matures from zero to tyrant to real hero, helped by a delightful Isabelle Joss as Irn Bru genie Jeanie. And if Stephen Arden turns in a highly entertaining performance as the villain Salazar, he also offers some brilliant choreography; as the whole team, including the ever-impressive Byre young cast, dance and sing their way through a fine playlist of Christmas hits, to a genuinely joyful finale.

Jack and The Beanstalk is at the Festival Theatre, Edinburgh until 11 January. Jack and the Beanstalk is at Dundee Rep until 30 December. Aladdin is at the Byre Theatre, St Andrews, until 4 January.

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