Panto is back - oh yes it is! Oldham Coliseum are well known for
their yearly pantomimes which are much loved by many but they sadly had to postpone their annual panto last year due to Covid. This year they're back with a
bang, the excitement in the audience was electric and when the curtain rose
everyone cheered with excitement.
The show kicked off with a very loud number which blared through
the speakers, it was visually appealing with Celia Perkins's brilliant designs
flooding the stage along with Aladdin (Shorelle Hepkin) and Wishee
Washee's (Sam Glen) excellent dancing.
Sadly, for Covid related reasons, there wasn't the usual youth
chorus and instead they had been replaced by four wonderful professional
dancers with special mention to Helena Ferreira who's facial expressions
throughout the show were phenomenal.
The cast had a few familiar faces with
a mix of new ones thrown in. Richard J Fletcher, who in previous years has
played the comic recently stepped into Fine Time Fontayne's dresses to play the hilarious Widow Twankey. Most of the show's hilarious moments come from
Twankey with 'Fireball' being the most memorable scene of the show for me. It
had me in stitches! Villain Aunty Banazar (Liz Carney) had the audience booing
from the off and had excellent stage presence throughout. It was great to
see a woman playing the baddie for once! The Jinn of the Lamp (Marc Zayat) was
a character that stood out for me this year, Zayat played the Jinn fabulously
and definitely added his own flare to the role. Jasmine was played by the
beautiful Dora Rubinstein however I felt we didn't see very much of this
character in the show and therefore didn't give Rubinstein much of an
opportunity to amaze us.
For me, my favourite part of Oldham's Panto is always the
crazy costumes that the dame wears and this year was no different as we were
dazzled by an array of hilarious costume changes by Twankey with my favourite
being the Billie Eilish costume. Again, well done Celia Perkins.
A scene that stood out for me was the end 'fight' scene, it
was very well done and you can tell it was crafted by an excellent fight
director (Kaitlin Howard).
The song choices weren't as modern as
previous years with "Sweet Caroline" making an appearance twice, once
as a song sheet at the end. Oldham's usual small pit band can make any number
sound good and proves every year that you don't need a huge orchestra to do
this. Uncle David (Dave Bintley) on the keyboard didn't disappoint as he took
on his usual role of 'Judge' in the song sheet competition and chose my side as
the winner.
There were a few lines fumbled here and there throughout the
show but this was saved with some of the actors coming out of character with
great comedic improvisation. It did come across that some had a few opening
night nerves but I'm sure that as the run goes along the cast will become more
and more comfortable and this will reflect in their performances.
All in all, another great panto from Oldham Coliseum. It
definitely didn't disappoint and is perfect for all the family to enjoy. I'm already looking forward to Robin Hood
next year!
Reviewer - Bethany Suthers
on - 13.11.21
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