This reviewer has seen more pantomimes over the years than he has had hot dinners.....oh yes he has! Well, not quite, but I have seen a great deal, and it has taken me until this evening at Halifax's Victoria Theatre and their production of Cinderella to say that this is amongst the top ten all-time and certainly the best panto I have seen this season!
Produced by Imagine Theatre, a panto specialist (and it shows), the production uses colourful picture-book sets, creative lighting, a live band, a group of local dancers to help with the chorus numbers, fantasmagorical costumes with a change for the Dame on his every entrance, some truly magical illusions, and the end to the first act will simply blow you away! And all that is before we credit any of the talented cast!
We all know the story of Cinderella don't we..... oh yes we do! The only slight difference in Eric Potts's version is that it is the Fairy Godparents - called here King Julian and Queen Juniper - fun-loving do-gooders who make it their task to help Cinderella fulfil her destiny together, with some slick and really rather excellent magic along the way... that is because this duo is The Conjurors (Matthew Pomeroy and Natasha Lamb), who have their own sell-out illusion and conjuring show with which they regularly tour.
Adam Stafford was this season's best Dame (by a long way!), pitching his comedy and butchness just right for this reviewer. Nathan Morris is a most amiable well-intentioned clown as Buttons. Keiran Morris is charming as Prince Charming, and Emma Kirk (with her beautiful voice) was a superb Cinderella.
The two Ugly Sisters were Siobhan Diffin (Whitney) and Tasha Shanade (Britney). Both worked well and illicited the appropriate audience reaction. However, for me at least, they were not my idea of ugly. True, they were certainly ugly in character and behaviour, but outwardly they were far too pretty. Lovely costumes and nice make-up made them not stand out visually as one's idea of ugly. Moreover, since this script did not accommodate an evil witch or a King Rat character, it is the Ugly Sisters who should take on this role between them and be booed and hissed and be truly nasty. The audience did boo them, but only because Buttons asked us to, not because we felt repulsed by them.
We were treated to plenty of jokes throughout, some very silly ones as well as many for the grown-ups too. Unfortunately though there was one area which was the weak link in this panto, and that was the lack of traditional responses. At times this show was much more like a Musical Theatre Comedy than a panto, and it was such a shame that we had only one "oh yes it is" the whole show, and we never had a "behind you". The traditional routines were a little thin on the ground, and the audience only had a true rapport with Buttons and The Dame due to their constant call-and-response greetings. We did have one young child on the stage very briefly, but the songsheet was neglected in favour of more magic.
The choreography (Laura Grecian) was exciting and nicely executed this evening, the singing fabulous, and the whole mise-en-scene very slick, swift, and eye-catching. The live music was sound (a-hem, sorry!) under the direction of David Haller. A true spectacle for the festive season and a show that both company and theatre can be extremely proud of. Get yourselves down to Willowfield On The Wobble before it is too late!
Very Nice
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