Review: CBeebies Live! Reach To The Stars - London Wembley Arena

CBeebies Live - Reach To The Stars

Wembley Arena

Saturday 31st March: A great atmosphere at Wembley Arena for Cbeebies Live! Reach To The Stars. Huge amounts of children of all ages, sat in their seats and glowing wands and other merchandise filled the arena with a sea of colour. Excitement filled the air and you could tell by the look on my little niece's face!

The show features stars from hit shows on Cbeebies. They come on stage and do a sketch, a song and dance, which everyone can join in with and even I was singing "Ten fat sausages sizzling in a pan'. But after each scene, there is one character trying to steal the limelight from everyone so he can be the biggest star of the show - Robbie Rotten! Robbie lures the other characters into his dungeon lair to huge boos from the audience, and he goes off and waits for the next act. Well that's the storyline over with, and to be honest, the show doesn't really need it as it could get away with just a myriad of sketches and quite happily keep everybody entertained.

The main presenters are Justin Fletcher, very entertaining to watch and is adored by everyone, especially as the lovable character Mr Tumble, who did a funny farm scene in Act Two singing "Mr Tumble Had A Farm".
Andy Day, Katy Ashworth and Andrew Agnew (PC Plum) are also full of energy, the opening number giving us a hint of the whole show, lots of singing, dancing, joining in with "Happy and you know it".

Finale - Photo by Vicky EJ Knight

Sometimes they enter through the arena amongst the audience, Robbie Rotten being one of them in the Lazytown sketch. Other characters to take to the stage are Mr Maker, Postman Pat with his cat Jess, Squiglet, ZingZillas and Mike The Knight.

The set consists of large building blocks, which are used to good effect in the various scenes, and the costumes are are very good, especially the sight of an elephant and farmyard animals - lots to look at on the stage to keep the audience happy, including a very nice underwater UV sequence, with seahorse, starfish, jellyfish and anenome. A large video screen at the rear of the stage has various visuals and video sequences to intersperse with the action along with a huge starcloth.

At the end though, Robbie Rotten is overpowered and all the captured stars are united on stage for a finale song of "Reach For The Stars" and we all go home rather happy. We have all been entertained for just over an hour and a half (with twenty minute interval), and it is top quality. A great show for the Easter holidays, or any time of the year.

Tour Dates

LONDON Wembley Arena
Saturday 31 March 2pm & 5pm
Sunday 1 April 11am & 2pm

LIVERPOOL EchoTwo at Echo Arena
Tuesday 3 April 2pm & 5pm

GLASGOW Clyde Auditorium
Wednesday 4 April 2pm & 5pm
Thursday 5 April 11am & 2pm

NEWCASTLE Radio Metro Arena
Saturday 7 April 2pm & 5pm

MANCHESTER Evening News Arena
Sunday 8 April 2pm & 5pm

SHEFFIELD Motorpoint Arena
Monday 9 April 2pm & 5pm

CARDIFF Motorpoint Arena
Tuesday 10 April 2pm & 5pm
Wednesday 11 April 11am & 2pm

BIRMINGHAM LG Arena
Friday 13 April 2pm & 5pm

NOTTINGHAM Capital FM Arena
Saturday 14 April 2pm & 5pm

www.cbeebieslive.com