Aladdin
Information
- Date
- 19th February 2020
- Society
- Bunbury Players
- Venue
- Jubilee Centre, Mildenhall
- Type of Production
- Pantomime
- Director
- Mandy Morrish
- Musical Director
- Will Cahill
- Choreographer
- Chloe Gilbert, Mandy Morrish & Becky Green
- Producer
- Darren Mather
Aladdin’, is one of my favourite pantomimes, mainly because it has such a strong plot line. This was developed in a funny and modernised script by Alan Frayn, with Bunburys adding their own topical and local gags into the mix, directed by Mandy Morrish and choreographed by Chloe Gilbert, Mandy Morrish & Becky Green. Musical Direction by Will Cahill.
Supporting the lead characters there was a mainly young ensemble playing the villagers, courtiers and spirits and they did extremely well. MD Will Cahill had rehearsed them thoroughly and done a great job with the music. They sang and carried out the choreography nicely. Most importantly though they smiled all the way.
The lead role of Aladdin was confidently played by Karen Humphreys with Amy Noonan making a lovely Princess Mandarin. This was an excellent pairing and they worked well together. Both have good voices and excellent stage presence. Darren Hitchings did well as Widow Twankey, his make-up, many costumes, wigs and hats adding to the fun of his performance in this iconic role. As Wishee Washee, Darren Mather possesses a good sense of comedy timing and both he and ‘his mother’ had a good rapport with the audience. There was great support for the Principals from Billie Dawson as So-Shy who was called upon by The Empress (played well by Angela Tully) to not only watch over the Princess but to work in the take-away too. Colin Musgrove was suitably evil as Abanazar, well deserving of his ‘boos and hisses’. A very enjoyable characterisation came from Carrie Parsons as the Spirit of the Ring and Randy Borden was very good as the Genie of the Lamp. The audience undoubtedly enjoyed Debbie Owen as Yu-Dun-Wong and Jo-Ann Ward as Hu-Dun-Pong, the Chinese policemen whizzing round the stage on scooters and hitting everyone in sight with their truncheons.
Pace, a thing very important in pantomime, was good overall, although it flagged a bit in the second half due to some hesitancy on cue pickup but for a first night it was pretty good. On the production side things were visually impressive with colourful backcloths and costumes. Props, lighting and excellent sound balance between music and performer plus fine Principals and good Chorus work all added to the overall production value. Everyone on stage enjoyed themselves, as did the almost capacity audience. Congratulations to all involved!
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