ALADDIN

I must congratulate Paul Nowland and the company for an excellent afternoon’s entertainment, in this my final panto of the season.  This was a brilliantly funny and well written panto – by Gill Jackson & Paul Nowland.

This super talented cast displayed excellent performances all-round – combined with a very colourful set and those fantastic costumes to show them all off.

As Aladdin, Becky Stewart had the dialogue and voice, with great stage presence and she carried the title role with great style.  Her Princess Lotus Blossom, Veronica La Via, had a great voice and their musical numbers were a joy to listen to.  The lady in waiting So Shy (Alicia Sharp) also had a great voice to add into the musical mix.

With great comedy timing, Matt Kirby was excellent as Wishy Washy –this part was just made for him!  He was ably supported in the comedy stakes by PC Pong and PC Ping (Bethany Denby and Ed Stewart respectively).  This duo also displayed brilliant comedy timing and the kids (and adults) found their foolish antics hilarious.  Well done!

Genie of the Lamp, Rubina Dinu-Zamfir, had what I can only describe as “personality-plus” – I loved her interpretation of this role.

Widow Twankey is the perfect Dame role to be exploited to the full and Rick Hoddy certainly didn’t miss a trick.  The Dames costumes were amazing (some of the best I’ve ever seen) – he(she) delivered humorous comedy, singing and dancing, had great reactions with other performers and the audience (namely Brian, or was it Gary???!).  This was definitely a role to relish with delight and pleasure.  Congratulations Rick – you didn’t fail to entertain!

George Scaife as The Great Abanazer gave us a flawless ‘baddy’ performance – another perfect role for him.

There were also very strong performances throughout from Vickie Hawkins and Ian Knight as the Empress and Emperor of China - good character roles played with style and great timing.

Finally, what can one say about the Slave of the Ring dressed in pink and glitter and displaying such an “understated” OTT performance as to bring on the smiles before he even opened his mouth?  Sammy Foster was excellent in this role!

The Magic Carpet ride was spectacular I have to say.  The “ooh’s and aah’s” could be audibly heard around the audience.  And all ended happily after all!

With a superb supporting cast of Dancers, sunbeams and chorus this production was filled with fun, laughter and great musical numbers – all under the direction of Rob Durkin as MD, with his great sounding band.

Congratulations to all involved in this super production.

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