Review: Scooby-Doo Live! Musical Mysteries hits WestEnd with family-friendly interactive show

Last night I found myself humming the theme song from Scooby-Doo. I had learnt the lyrics a few hours earlier and couldn’t get it out of my head. Singing along to the song and watching Big Girl do the dance moves had been the highlight of the day.

We had been invited to review Scooby-Doo Live! Musical Mysteries, which opened yesterday at London Palladium for a four-day run and is an engaging musical well suited for a young audience. As Scooby-Doo, Shaggy, Daphne, Fred and Velma are known for solving dark and scary mysteries, I was surprised at how colourful and lighthearted this show was.

In fact, the show was much more kid-friendly than expected, and I think I could even have brought Baby Boy along to the interactive performance, as there are two 30-minute acts and a 20-minute interval. The show tells the story of Scooby-Doo and his friends booking the London Palladium to perform as a band called Missing Link, as they want to investigate rumours there’s a ghost residing at the theatre.

It’s the type of musical I would have felt out of place at if I’d gone without kids, and the theatre was packed with families. During the performance, children were encouraged to help the gang and it was hard not to giggle when the pretty loud audience were shouting to the group on stage to make them aware of the theatre ghost.

I think the plot was at times a bit hard to follow, and my favourite part were singing the catchy Scooby-Dooby-Doo theme song. Before going I was worried it could potentially be scary for Big Girl, who’s soon to turn 4, but the ghost was not as scary as expected and it was made clear it was only someone in a costume.

With the charming Scooby-Doo on stage, tonnes of audience participation and catchy songs, the show is a winner with families who will enjoy the singing and dancing-perhaps particularly the parts when the lyrics from the theme song appear on the stage curtain and everyone is singing along.

There are three performances daily until August 21, and tickets are available online. When booking through Kids Week, one child goes free when buying an adult ticket. All children must be old enough to occupy their own seats at The London Palladium.

Tags: Kids Week, London, Musical, Scooby-Doo, Scooby-Doo Live!, West End