A Fairytale for Christmas Show at the Dominion Theatre in London on Sunday 23rd November 2025, it is supposed to be an uplifting Irish production full of great songs, dancing and story.
Unfortunately, for me, it felt anything but uplifting, yes it had some Irish hits, but the majority of songs were well known hits, first half of the performance was plagued with sound issues making it at times impossible to hear the singers on stage who were drowned out by the backing track (I believe there was no band as there was no mention of it), although mentioned to the staff at the Dominion the sound did for a song, get better, but the vocals weren't great, some out of tune and others felt like it was an effort, along with a questionable performance of "Underneath The Tree".
The Irish dancers who were on stage were talented and very good. I believe there was supposed to be a story as there is listed a Narrator on the casting, but it seemed that the show went off in all different directions and there wasn't anything that was clear to the audience member, I believe if the soundcheck was completed properly you may have been able to hear the audio and the story better, instead it was incredibly muffled so found it hard to follow.
One thing that bugged me was that production team members were in the audience and though that it would be delightful to walk up and down the main bit of the theatre and taking photos of the performance when there is a strict performance notice at the beginning of the show saying please don't. It was very contradictory to what the announcement was, no staff was there to enforce it.
Sadly the production member of staff was very distracting. I knew it was a production staff as he had a lanyard on. Surely, if you are putting on such a show, stay in one place, don't distract those around you.
I can't unfortunately say that I thought the performance was deserving of a West End performance in one of the most iconic stages in London. This did not feel that the show should have been on the Dominion Stage, and perhaps a smaller venue in the West End, like the Aldephi on the Strand where some of the Meat Loaf by Candlelight are hosted.
The theatre staff (part from Security, a different story), were friendly, polite and helpful with questions and service the audiences who were clearly having a good time, albeit powdering themselves with booze.
I had high expectations for A Fairytale for Christmas as I love Ireland and Dublin, it's a place that we had visited twice this year, loving it more every time we visited, So I had hoped that this show would put me in a Christmas mood, instead it I left feeling like the grinch.
if you aren't fussed with a story, and just love the music and dancing then yes, go and see this for yourselves as you may just enjoy it. Run time is 2hrs 30, although show started 7.30pm and finished just before 9.45pm.
As ever, we are grateful for the invite to these shows and were gifted them for a honest review for the show. Our reviews are honest and we will continue to post reviews that are honest going forward. We are looking to our pantomime season that is just around the corner.
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