Aladdin

I was delighted to be invited see Dinnington Operatic Society perform their annual pantomime ,with all the usual anecdotes ,over the head lines, songs ,dancing, fun and laughter. The society is very much a community based group with many established families forming the backbone to what is clearly a wonderful warm and friendly group to belong to . In addition to the main cast there was a strong supportive ensemble and  the talented youngsters from The Julie Turner Stage Academy .

The panto started with groups of young dancers in gorgeous costumes wetting our appetite for the  journey to Egypt to follow.

In true panto style the baddy,Abanazar  entering stage left  ,performed by Andrew Darksus worked the audience and was duly greeted by the usual loud boos and jeers everytime he appeared. Enter stage right The Spirit of the Ring, performed beautifully by Joanne Thornewell ,who with many of the cast had some memorable exchanges, not least the lovely moment she told Abanazar .. it's your line ...and the cleverly worked Invisible scroll scene  .Interspersed with so many funny scenes we were treated to some wonderful dancing by girls from the academy, and how lovely to see youngsters maybe as young as 3-4 years old ,dancing with wide eyes and lovely smiles. 

 

No panto is complete without the dame. A man in a dress, John Green as Widow Twankey certainly didn't disappoint . His or should I say her crazy costumes, wonderful facials,interactions with cast and audience kept us smiling on his  every appearance. Some of the references to his late husband were delivered with great comic timing and thoroughly enjoyed by the audience. Enter Twankeys crazy son Wishee Washee, with the, hi kids, hi wishee washee ,so many wonderful scenes throughout, delivered with excellent comic timing . This part requires a larger than life character ,full of fun,tease, audience interaction,and being able to deliver the adult innuendos with a straight face,whilst maintaining the innocence to the youngsters in the audience,. Ashley Booker performed all this and more. 

And now to the gentler performers Aladdin played by Alexandra Fergusson and the Princess Jasmine by Millie Ducker . both performing very well. I thought you complemented each other during some moving scenes not least on the magic carpet with your duet of Re-write The Stars.   Well done to So- Shy  ,played by Samantha Smedley ,always a test to play the see all hear all part and remain discretionary  ,but you did it really well. I trust you are  recovering satisfactorily from your injury ?.

I was very sorry to hear of your Emperor , Ian Ibbotson being taken so ill last weekend, and of course wish him a full and speedy recovery. My compliments go to Kirstie Turnbull who at the 23rd hour took on the role of Empress with great poise and stage presence , had I not been told , I would not have realised. 

Your re naming of  " The Genie of The Camp " made me smile ,  even more so with the arrival of Mark Wareing, who played his part with glee, milking every situation with  rye smiles and reactions.   

I thoroughly enjoyed your production, the shortening of some of the songs worked well, possibly an odd dance could have been reduced in time a little , but the integration of fun,song,movement,colour,costumes worked really well. There were too many quality laugh out loud scenes to mention , but the Takeaway sketch was very funny. 

I very much enjoyed the ballet scenes following Aladdin going into the cave ,and also the changing song scenes in Act 2, Were in the Money into Money Makes the World go round and Money,Money Money .Of course the bench scene and audience participation song are always well appreciated and received.

Well done to the ensemble who performed some memorable scenes and songs , to all the dancers ,with real quality movement and dance. To your strong principal cast who gave experienced and solid performances.To your director and Choreographers for their vision and planning and your MD and  band who played really well ,controlling the levels excellently, allowing the performers to be clearly heard. 

Congratulations must also go the enormous team effort off stage ,the production of all those costumes, the sets, props etc, a massive achievement ,very well done . Your magic carpet was extremely effective with the added  clever use of  sky colours .

On behalf of Gillian,Cathy and myself can I thank you for your kindness and hospitality throughout the evening ,it was lovely to meet your chairman Ian ,and so many of your management team , and wish you all success with your remaining shows. 

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