Aladdin

I have to admit to being a little panto-weary by 9th February, when I was booked in for Melodramatics’ latest offering of Aladdin, so I was really hoping for something that would stand out from the crowd and rise above the usual panto offerings - that would make me laugh and brighten my Saturday night.

Melodramatics have taken the leap to Buckden from Kimbolton, due to their growing popularity necessitating a larger venue - and Buckden Millenium Hall proved the perfect place. With a ceiling swathed in white fabric and soft coloured lighting on the walls, the space felt warm and welcoming - as was the greeting I received (as always) from the front of house team. Expertly co-ordinated by Linda Riddy, they waited until the bar was clear and the audience happily seated with their drinks, before giving the go ahead to start the show.

A friendly announcement was made welcoming the audience, encouraging their participation with boos and cheering - and requesting that mobile phones were silenced. I do wish that more societies would do this, there is nothing worse for the performers than someone’s phone ringing/lighting up mid show, or for the audience, as said offender fumbles to turn it off.

And so, the panto opens with the Salesman, brilliantly vocalised and played by the talented Huw Nadin, entering from the back of the auditorium and announcing that he is coming at us from behind. I am seeing the Saturday night performance, which has no children in the audience and so the actors were able to be a little more risqué. The six other performances were child-friendly, with enough cleverly intertwined innuendo to go over the children’s heads, but still satisfy the grown ups. This panto is brilliantly written throughout and has the audience in fits of laughter all night - no mean feat, for what is essentially a traditional children’s story. Penned by the expert writing team of Rowan Alfred and Huw Nadin, they achieved the perfect balance of comedy, storytelling, jokes, double entendre and song. Congratulations gentlemen on a thoroughly superb script. I have never laughed so much at a pantomime! Tonight, I forgot that I was watching as your NODA representative, and  became one of the audience, laughing, cheering and singing along with everyone else.

The set is simple painted flats, reversible and on castors, depicting the Arabian market place and later the palace, with a cardboard washing machine placed downstage right. Simplicity is the key here and the set works perfectly for this production, not pretending to be anything more than it is. The SFX as the lamp spun and flew off into the distance had the audience in stitches! Simple but effective lighting changes from Dave Maltby brought the set to life. Likewise, costumes do the job - nothing fancy here either, but with everyone looking the part. It is not always about big budgets, with snazzy costumes and hugely elaborate sets, although the genie’s hat, which even stayed put during a cartwheel, and Jafabanazar’s costume were great. Melodramatics proved tonight that as long as you grab the audience from the start and keep them on board, you will have a super successful show. As an example, we are introduced to Humphrey, the camel. What do you do when you don’t have a fancy-shmancy camel costume? You put Humphrey, The (now) Siberian Camel in a black and white cow outfit, with a cushion for one hump on his back and an udder for the ‘udder one’. Brilliant! Humphrey was hilarious, well done Kat Evans and Jo Hall who brought him to life - your choreography was delightful as you danced with the other characters on stage. Choreography throughout by Emma Driscoll and Rowan Alfred was basic but effective and worked a treat for this piece. Once again, simplicity working to its full advantage. 

Directed by Rowan Alfred (who was also the MD), our actors on stage all had a great energy and stage presence about them, each one bringing something to the performance and being a valuable member of the cast. Too often in amateur theatre there are one or two members of the ensemble who are surplus to requirements. Not here! Each one was fab, and the ‘show faces’! Amazing!  A personal bugbear in am dram is an ensemble who doesn’t smile. These guys smiled, laughed, gave us their best show faces and jazz hands in every number - and it made a HUGE difference, well done to each and every member of the ensemble. I would like to give a special mention to Gavin Manning was was, quite simply, brilliant, especially during ‘You Make My Dreams Come True’. Gavin, I could have happily watched you all night. Thank you for being so wonderfully entertaining.

And now to our leads. Sam Eggins as Aladdin was the good-looking heartbreaker along with his Princess Jade, played by Emma Verney-Davies. Emma had a lovely singing voice, with a clear, pure tone and as they duetted on Out There (from The Hunchback Of Notre Dame) there was a beautiful moment at the end, of harmony and emotion - well done to both. Princess Jade also took on This Is Me from The Greatest Showman. She was allowed her opening bars of lovely singing, before the ensemble came on as bearded ladies and brought the house down! Brilliant. And although the actors had not particularly encouraged it, the audience simultaneously began to sing along, the enthusiasm from the performers being so infectious. 

Dame Wilma (Tony Knox) once again played the traditional pantomime Dame beautifully, despite the backstage crew adding some ‘extra’ props into her washing basket for the Saturday night show, with much hilarity. Willy (Zachary Leonard) her son, gave a confident and assured performance, with good timing whenever the audience intervened. His ‘Rub, Rub, Rub’ song, when he was eventually allowed to sing it after all the characters’ interruptions, was brilliantly written and hugely entertaining. What was so clever here was that, whilst simply a funny song about a magic lamp for the children, the adults were equally entertained by the laugh-out-loud innuendo. 

Anne-Marie King as The Emperor played the part well, with the classic panto song as a statue being sheer genius! In fact, as the “If I Were Not A ......” song began, I admit to feeling a little deflated at first, as this song crops up so very often in panto. However, they soon won me over with the funniest version I have ever seen! This was partly due to the lyrics and staging, but mostly just because the cast committed to this number 100%, not being afraid to truly go for it and entertaining the audience greatly in the process. When we see someone enjoying themselves on stage it takes us along with them and this number had the audience rolling in the aisles!

Emma Driscoll as Ruby was hilarious and perfect for the role, and Heike Riddle too, as the genie, was also very entertaining. Plaudits go to Tom Monkhouse who shaved his head for the role of Jafabanazer (true dedication) and looked superb with a great costume and make up. His ‘henchperson’ Susan (Melanie Hamilton) was the perfect antidote to the other traditional pantomime characters in her red power jacket and shiny killer heels. Her character was very ‘now’, having a mobile phone and her own twitter account, taking selfies and using hashtags. In a very clever twist, our brilliant writers had indeed created a Twitter account for her and the audience were encouraged to tweet her during the interval, which several did - and were duly read out in Act II.

Huw Nadin as the Salesman was brilliantly funny, with a great accent - and each time he sang ‘True Colours’ he brought the house down. Who knew that was a comedy song, until he whispered ‘like a rainbow’? His part in the panto song where he simply screamed about Brexit, yogurt and passports was pure gold! 

Other highlights for me included Jafabanazer singing Michael Jackson’s ‘Bad’ whilst the ensemble did the hosepipe at the back! Also, the good old ghost scene (“it’s behind you!”) which was perfect panto fodder, accompanied by Spitting Image’s The Chicken Song, as the ensemble carried the appropriate props on and off the stage, gradually getting more and more fed up. The song choices were excellent throughout the panto, with tunes from Disney’s Aladdin, other musical theatre, pop songs and classic panto favourites - and not a Baby Shark in sight, for once! Hooray!

This pantomime succeeded so well for many reasons: the brilliantly written script, the choice of songs, the sheer infectious enthusiasm of the performers and the fact that it didn’t try to take itself too seriously. Melodramatics’ best production so far and the best panto I have seen this season. Whilst everyone did a superb job to get this pantomime on its feet and in front of an audience, the hero has to be Rowan Alfred, who not only co-wrote the script, but directed the whole show, AND was musical director too, playing keys, leading the band and singing on the night! Is there no end to this man’s talents?

A huge thank you Melodramatics for a wonderful evening’s entertainment - I was laughing all the way home!

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