The rags-to-riches story of Dick Whittington and his cat will be familiar to pantomime lovers everywhere. Having lost his heart to his master’s daughter Alice, our everyman flees to seek his fortune on the high seas, only to be shipwrecked on a rat-infested island. Thanks to his cat, who single-handedly exterminates this plague, Dick wins the gratitude of the King, who sends them back to London in glory, where Dick becomes Lord Mayor. Ken Livingstone, eat your heart out! What won’t be familiar is Offenbach’s exciting musical rendering of this story, which includes such swashbuckling numbers as ‘Great at Colonizing is England Understand?’ and the wistful ‘Haunted Kickaboo’.

Learn more about London operas within the West End.