KMT Pantomime Archive.pub.pdf - Over The Footlights

Musical Director: Ted Heath
Musicians: Derek Lawrence, Tony Wyatt
Choreographer: Francesca Lucy/Alma Rippon
Lighting by Pat Nelder
Stage Manager: Anthony Hibberd
Assistant Stage Manager: Nick Richards
Written & Directed by Vivyan Ellacott
This was the first professional pantomime to be
staged in Ilford since 1945. At the Ilford
Hippodrome during the evening performance of the
pantomime “Robinson Crusoe” on January 12th
1945, shortly after the start of the show, the star,
Renee Houston, had just launched into her opening
number—”The Fleet’s In”. Suddenly the entire
building juddered in the shock waves of an
enormous explosion. A V2 rocket had fallen on a
row of cottages behind the theatre, killing 15 people.
The blast demolished the dressing rooms and
brought much of the backstage area crashing down.
After a momentary pause, the stage manager rushed
onstage ordering the audience to evacuate the
building, and despite swirling dust and sprinklers
soaking the pit area, the conductor led the orchestra
into its exit music, aiding a shocked, but nonpanicking
audience evacuation. Miraculously only
one person in the theatre was killed, though over a
hundred were injured. The whole night was spent
digging performers and staff out of the rubble. Two
days later the ceiling of the Hippodrome collapsed
on top of the stalls. The building was sealed off, and
finally demolished twelve years later when some
crumbling masonry fell on the top of a passing bus.
The newly opened Kenneth More Theatre, thirty
years later, renewed the tradition of an annual
professional pantomime in Ilford. Not having any
recent experience to use as a basis, it was decided to
run for just three weeks. This “Dick Whittington”
was a complete 100% sell-out.
1975 : Dick Whittington
December 24th 1975 - January 10th 1976
(42 performances)
Andrew Betts (Dick Whittington)
Michael Heath (Alderman Fitzwarren/Sultan of Morocco)
Dennis Leeman (Sea Captain)
Mark Leeman (Martha the Cook)
Francesca Lucy (Fairy Bowbells/Princess Almeida)
Robert Quarry (Town Crier/Slave Hassan)
Cheryl van Hoorn (Alice Fitzwarren)
Michael Watkins (King Rat)
Mak Wilson (Tommy the Cat)
The Alma Rippon Dancers