Janet Bird
What's New Pussycat?
by Joe Di Petrio
Birmingham Rep
2021
credits
Director Luke Sheppard Set Designer Jon Bausor Costume Designer Janet Bird
Choreographer Dame Arlene Phillips DBE, Musical Supervisor/Orchestrator Matthew Brind , Lighting Designer Howard Hudson , Video Designer Akhila Krishnan, Sound Designer Gareth Owen, Casting Director Annelie Powell, Musical Director Josh Sood, Associate Choreographer Dale White, Associate Lighting Designer Tom Mulliner, Video Systems Designer and Technical Associate Maximilien Spielbichler, Associate Sound Designer Matt Peploe, Assistant Director Priya Patel Appleby
Production Manager Simon Marlow, Costume Supervisor, Yvonne Milnes, Wig, Hair and Make-Up Supervisor Sam Cox, Props Supervisor Duncan Hammond
Photography Pamela Reith
Dragging Fielding’s 18th-century village life forward to London’s Carnaby Street of the swinging 60s, it seems to revel in its look and style for too long: there are fabulously psychedelic stage designs (by Jon Bausor, new sets bursting out of old ones), costumes to die for (geometric designs and peppermint stripes, all by Janet Bird) and dazzling lighting (by Howard Hudson) that climbs the stage walls and reaches into the auditorium.
The Guardian 4*
Arlene Phillips’s slinky period choreography and Janet Bird’s witty costumes supply lashings of style, Tom’s frilly, nipple-flashing shirt and dandyish velvet jackets referencing the eras of both the music and the novel.
INews
The costume designer, Janet Bird, appears to have all of 1960s Carnaby Street at her disposal
The Telegraph 5*
Janet Bird's costumes also look sublime and totally encompass the colourful decade.
Broadway world
★★★★★ “Zesty, witty, fun” Telegraph
★★★★★ “Truly wonderful” WhatsOnStage
★★★★★ “Filled with fun and sass” Birmingham Mail
★★★★ “Sheer, high-voltage fun” Guardian
★★★★ “Top-class popular entertainment” Daily Mail