Aladdin

Every pantomime should have a goodie, someone we can cheer, a baddie, someone we can boo and a comedy duo to laugh at. This panto certainly had all these elements. Under the direction of Tom Willson, the cast enjoyed themselves with this production of Aladdin as well as ensuring that the audience had a super time too.  This is a really funny script by Alan P. Frayn and the cast used the comic lines to great effect, they delivered all the jokes with excellent comic timing so that none of the humour was lost.

Lloyd Cast was hilarious as the panto dame, Widow Twankey.  The rapport he built up with the audience was good, especially when he came on who got the loudest cheer.  Jodie Butler was a good Aladdin with a great stage presence.  She worked well with Demi Breakspear as The Princess Mandarin, the two of them didn’t merely seek to portray the traditional roles, they had real spirit.  They were well supported by Lucia Owen-Small as So-Shy who really looked like she was enjoying the role.  The Emperor played by John Kerr played the role well.   Daniel Butler was a mean and dramatic Abanazar and Tom Willson was great as Twankey's hapless son, Wishee Washee, who always seemed to get the loudest cheer when he came on, according to his stage mother.  I enjoyed the comedy double act of Dean Yeates and Liane McNeil as Hu-Dun-Pong and Yu Dun Wong, I quite liked the twist that ‘The Food Song’ was played every time they came on. Hannah Trowman made an entertaining Spirit of the Ring and Amy Reynolds gave a sterling performance as The Genie of the Lamp.

I enjoyed the chorus numbers, great harmonies especially the final number ‘Edge of Firework’.  One of the nice little touches that Tom put into this panto was during the finale even the camel was singing along - something which did not go unnoticed by the audience. 

Even though the stage was small, the company made use of every inch and the set fitted nicely.  The company also used projections and these were most effective, especially the magic carpet ride. Costumes made mostly in house, looked great and were very colourful. I feel the whole company worked well together and provided a great nights entertainment.  Congratulations to you all and I look forward to your next production.

© NODA CIO. All rights reserved.