A pantomime version of The Wind In The Willows, The Vicar of Dibley, what could come next for the local Chadderton theatre group who have an impressive catalogue of shows up their sleeves throughout the past 34 years, from musicals, showcases, pantos and plays, they have almost done it all...The last time they performed this classic pantomime story was back in 2004 and so it’s about time they showed their talents once again with Aladdin!
I speak, of course, of St Herbert’s aka S.H.A.D.E.S, in the well-used and well-kept church hall and parish centre. The script, by Reece Sibbald, was clearly adapted with local references and those of current affairs but the wit remained, with director, society chairlady and dame Widow Twankey, Carole Griffiths, holding the star title, ably supported by the rest of the cast. Amy Gilmore did a very good job with the role of the 'pricipal boy' character, alongside onstage (older) brother Wishee Washee (Tony Cenci), and opposite beautiful-voiced Princess Jasmine (Rachael Pearson) - who got a bit tongue-tied with her earlier lines. The rest of the cast are made up of Slave Of The Ring (Jane Pearson), evil Abanazar (Martin Taylor), Sultan (Tony Mooney) - this I have confusion over as the original story is Arabian yet the pantomime is traditionally set in Peking China where there aren’t really Sultans but Emperors. This was made even more bizarre by the unauthentic-sounding Asian/Indian accent of the Vizier (Andrew Kirk). All good fun though! - with his Royal entourage PCs Bodget (Jenny Taylor) and Leggit (Nathan Simpson) who also provided laughs from the clever script, but some of them were lost at the start.
The choreography (by Samantha Martin) of the chorus was good and well-executed, sadly some of the dancers didn't really look like they actually wanted to be there though, and there was a long gap of silence between the curtains opening and the music starting.
There was some good energy to the show and there weren’t pace issues, but I think this was helped by the choice of soundtrack piped through (which made for a delightful and well-edited overture), featuring Robbie Williams’ 'Let Me Entertain You', The Spice Girls’ 'Wannabe', the iconic 'A Whole New World', 'When You’re Good To Mama' from the musical Chicago, 'Wishy Washy Washer Woman', 'Rewrite The Stars' from The Greatest Showman, an Abba medley, Queen’s 'Magic', 'You’re The One That I Want' from Grease, 'Going To The Chapel', 'We Coulda Been Anything That We Wanted To Be' from Bugsy Malone, 'Someone In The Crowd' from the film La La Land, 'I Would Walk 500 Miles' and 'Pilot’s Magic', finishing with 'Rule The World' and 'Never Forget' by Take That and 'You Ain’t Never Had A Friend Like Me' from Disney’s Aladdin. It was great to see the magic carpet rise and the water was good too.
Overall a great show, full of fun for all ages. I did find it odd that the treasures to behold in the Cave of Wonders was just Hi-Vis’es(!) and that the children who volunteered themselves to dance during the sing-a-long part weren’t rewarded with anything..even a bow. However, as the Slave says at the start - potentially the moral of the story - “you mustn’t take things at face value” and I do urge you to support this hardworking group.
Reviewer - John Kristof
on - 4/12/19
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