REVIEW: Scooby Doo Live Musical Mysteries, London Palladium ✭✭✭✭

The cast of Scooby-Doo Live Musical Mysteries
Scooby-Doo Live Musical Mysteries

London Palladium18 August 2016 at 3.30pm

4 Stars

Book Tickets Scooby-Doo was first presented in 1969, he and the gang of Mystery Inc entertained me before school when I was growing up in Australia. From the reaction of the number of children at this performance of Scooby-Doo Live Musical Mysteries at the London Palladium, he continues to delight children, who filled the enormous auditorium.

Scooby-Doo Live Murder Mysteries brings Scooby, Fred, Daphne, Velma and Shaggy to London to help solve the mystery of the Palladium Ghost. It's all light fun with great original music. Each of the Mystery Inc gang is perfectly cast. Charlie Bull (Daphne), Chris Warner Drake (Fred), Rebecca Withers (Velma) Charlie Haskins (Shaggy) and Joe Goldie (Scooby-Doo) are scarily like their cartoon counterparts in terms of mannerisms and vocally. Of course, with any good mystery you need some dodgy looking suspects and John McManus, Martin Neely, Rebecca Withers and Matt Parsons deliver some shifty but ultimately quite fun characters that might or might not be the villain of the piece.

The original songs are simple but catchy and fun. There's a subtle nod to The Phantom Of The Opera which makes it a bit of fun for any of the adults who enjoy theatre, but ultimately Scooby-Doo is a character that has cross-generational appeal. I spoke to some of the parents present, who like me had grown up with Scooby Doo. Like me, they had enjoyed the show every bit as much as their kids.

The show runs for just under 90 minutes with a brief interval and had the attention of children throughout. Lots of audience response was called for and the children responded in droves. It is wonderful to look at the jam-packed London Palladium and think that the next generation of actors, composers and theatre folk might just have seen their first show. Brilliant!

Scooby-Doo is only in London for a few more days but well worth a visit with your children.

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