Aladdin

It is always refreshing to see something different and here Dewsbury Collegians did just that, Ben Crocker’s take on Aladdin is in places very different to the usual one we all know, of course many of the characters are the same but here we didn’t have Old Peking as the venue but this one is set in The Deserts of Arabia.

As the story opens we see the evil Abanazar played here with a great dela of gusto by Cameron Sherry who was outstanding and demanded lots of hissing and booing from a delighted audience.

Chris Nuttall was once again the “Silly Billy” character of this piece but here we had Sidney who much to the delight of the audience was able to get them going and giving them the right amount of fun and laughter.

In the title role of Aladdin was Natalie Jackson who was perfect, she looked every bit the part and was able to act, sing and dance it too.

Usually in Aladdin we see The Emperor, but again with the break to tradition we had The Empress who was in the very capable hands of Claire Adams who as well as being the regular royal character was also able to show her comedic side too.

In another break to tradition this panto includes Bibi, a monkey played by Danny Brooks who I am told had never been on stage before this. Well, all I can say if this was his first time I look very much forward to more and more roles from this young man, he never stopped working all the way through the panto.

Another traditional character in a panto is of course the Panto Dame, usually a larger than life character loved by all. James Creegan is just that and always delivers the goods, Dame Gertie, each time entering in a different costume and delivering his double entendre was a smash hit.

Usually in Aladdin we see Princess Jasmine but here she didn’t have a name other than Princess but that didn’t deter Jodie Allen who played her, she was able to deliver the goods and entertain the audience.

Another change to tradition was Fazil, a snake who hissed his way around the stage and delivering his lines in a hiss-voice. This part was made for Lee Sharratt, and he made it his own, you forgot that it was an actor playing this part but just concentrated on the snake in the basket which he held.

As in all good Aladdin pantos here we had a Genie of The Ring and Rachael Kirkwood was great in this part whisking on to the stage at every point that the ring was rubbed.

As well as the Genie of the Ring here we had a genie of The Lamp, Sean Milnes was brilliant in this part, playing a very camp Genie who the audience took to right from his first entrance up to his last.

In this version Dame Gertie has an English Restaurant in Arabia where the Empress and The Princess went to enjoy a meal, however they had not thought about the waitress, Doris who was more like Julie Walters in Acorn Antiques. Doris under the direction of Sue Cunningham who was nothing short of brilliant each time she entered the stage, your eyes were drawn to her as she was brilliant.

Congratulations to everyone involved especially Jane Ellaway who directed it, Jacques Warlop as MD and also the Sarah Sutton dancers who added to whole enjoyment.

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