Aladdin

After last year’s triumphant return to Pantomime with Cinderella (what else) it was with no small amount of excitement I made my way enthusiastically to March Youth and Community Centre for the 2015 selection, Aladdin. With last year’s Director Paul Tinker banished to Australia (I didn’t know they still deported undesirables)  it was down to the very experienced Barbara Mews to take on this year’s production.
It is peculiar that most of the pantomimes I have seen this year have been Aladdin or Snow White,  it’s not a problem, but you do end up with a firmer than usual idea of what the components of a good Aladdin should be. The first thing that struck me was that this one was extremely colourful, a simple enough set (Neil Spinks), brightly coloured and with beautiful costumes (Barbara Pepper) equally vibrant. Sound and lighting (Stuart Broad) was exceptional. Clever, accurate, with a gong sound effect that was so on cue I thought Uncle Gareth must have had the button!
The Chorus were, actually, pretty well non-existent as the small amount of stage space was generally filled with the large cast of characters. Of the supporting cast there was a nice cameo from Maddy Rodney as Sing Lower (classic Aladdin gag) and I liked Maxwell Wright and Ellie Savill as Ding Ling and Ting Ting. There also good work from Mo Silverman as the Vizier / Mummy, Chris Ketteringham as The Emperor of China and good to see (or not) Barbara Pepper as Kung Fu Panda (or the sauna as I expect she called it).
In the more prominent roles, David Yates was on good form as the Genie of the Lamp and MADAOS newcomer Julie Warman was enchanting as Royal hand maiden Sing Lo. In every reference to the Princess Jasmine it is noted how beautiful she is and I think that being pretty is vitally important for a female romantic lead. So many pantomimes don’t seem to agree with me but extremely attractive Eleanor Pettet was every inch the Princess with a lovely singing voice thrown in for good measure. By the very same token, this is also true of handsome Princes’ (the clue is in the title) and principle boys and lovely Kerry Casey was perfect. Masculine enough to be the hero but feminine enough so that you never forgot it was a girl playing a boy. Mrs Casey has an amazing singing voice and it was a genuine pleasure every time she broke into song.
In nearly all other pantomimes the name of the dame changes with each script but in Aladdin it just has to be Window Twanky and on this occasion she … was played by Stewart Bettles. As usual Mr Bettles made me a little nervous with his lines but with just a little help he got through, and, delivering a nice characterisation, he worked the cast and audience well in his performance. It was good to see society Chairman, Francis Pepper back in a larger role and this time he took the part of evil magician Abanazer and again with just a couple of minor nudges solicited plenty of boo and hiss. It was a shame that most of his lines were in rhyme which restricted his ability to trade with the audience which the part, and the audience was/were desperate for him to do!
I nearly gave the penultimate paragraph honours to the comic leads who just had me crying with laughter. Deadpan Derek Wisbey was great, but as Master Detective, Charlie Chan, Alex McAdam pretty much stole the whole show. His mock Chinese accent was so good, so consistent and so incredibly funny by the end of the show he just had to come on and I was laughing. It was a masterful characterisation and just a bit of a shame the part called for no singing as he has a wonderful voice as well. Likewise, I could easily have gone with another March novice, Ben Street as Wishee Washee, who had an amazing relaxed style that carried the show along in a way that was a lot more important than people would have realised. He was rock solid with his lines and had a mighty stage presence that was additionally amplified by the way he and Julie Warman (Sing Lo) worked together. I found myself more interested in that love story than the main one and that is in no way diminishing Aladdin and Princess Jasmine. Mr Street turned out to be a little (7 years) older than I thought but it was a mature performance from a very promising entertainer. The script left him high and dry with most of the main comedy going to the Chinese policemen which was a shame , as I thought he would have handled it well.
In the end it just had to be Hilarious Tina Elener as The Slave of The Ring who was priceless ! In a flawless performance she made comedy from nothing, delivering complicated Rhymes and established and maintained a connection with the audience that lifted the show a couple of extra notches.
Sincere congratulations to Barbara Mews for a pinpoint piece of Direction that could not be faulted, and of course to “Uncle” Gareth Dallender-Jones for making it go with a swing. This was a better script than last year, but I have seen superior ones for this tittle and my message remains as it always is …. the script is everything! A great cast can improve a bad script, but no one has ever made a really good show from a poor piece of writing. This production built nicely on last year’s production and with some care, next years could be up there with the best. For my part, I was completely immersed in proceedings, never more so than when it was one finger, one thumb, one arm etc.….. which (for the record) I only messed up once!
 

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