Aladdin

Set in the land of China, a poor boy called Aladdin knows what he must do to be with the beautiful Princess Yum Yum . Despite the efforts of the evil Abanazar, Aladdin has the help of a magic lamp, and of course the Genie, to help him succeed.

A well-known and traditional pantomime, but I don’t think I have ever seen it performed with such energy, the opening number really set the scene. Once again, with so many youngsters involved on stage, the ensemble was sensibly divided into three groups: the People of China, the Evil Crew and the Royal Court. All groups were equally balanced and led by some excellent principals. Aladdin, played by Ellie Coleman, was everything you would expect the hero of a story to be, she sang well and was an accomplished dancer. With her brother Wishy Washy, played by Freya Gould, they were under the control of their mother Widow Twankey (Jess Walker) who controlled the stage each time she appeared, it was a very confident and accomplished performance. Alfie Stokes played the role of the Genie; he was very commanding and his rendition of Could it be magic was one of the highlights of the first half.

Abanazar (Jess Deakin) led the Evil Crew, ably assisted by Emily Hughes (High Priestess) and Jake Silvester as the Minion. Along with Sweet and Sour (Macy and Miyah Bate), they left the audience in no doubt that they deserved all the boos they could get as they plotted to get their hands on the magic lamp. Leyshon Simms as the Emperor was a very jolly character who only wanted the best for his daughter, Princess Yum Yum (Nancy Arnold). I was very impressed by Leyshon’s movement on stage, nothing seemed to faze him. The princess was cared for by Nursey (Sadie Groves) and protected by Ping (Ben Mason) and Pong (Amelia Critchley) as the two officers of the law. Mention must be made of Mabel Deakin as Wong Key, she had the role of keeping the audience informed of the situation. It is never an easy task to get interaction from the audience, but, along with Widow Twankey, they fulfilled the task admirably.

I say this each time I see Spotlight perform, the choreographers deserve high praise indeed, there is such a wide range of ability but everyone on stage seems to know exactly what to do, no-one stands out as being left behind. The principal dancers are a delight to watch and enhance each musical number, as do the 4-piece combo with their subtle but competent accompaniment under the direction of Ian Windsor.

There were some memorable effects, notably the washing machine which made everything shrink (I think I have one similar at home!) and the transformation of Aladdin into a prince, very clever use of the rock. I particularly loved the shadow scene in Aladdin and Yum Yum’s duet, this was a lovely touch. Overall, I must say that the lighting effects brought the scenes to life particularly the moving spots at the front.

I was very impressed by the entire production, congratulations to Andrew and Michele for their imaginative direction. All in all, this was a first-class production, one which I’m sure the full-house audience would have really enjoyed, I certainly did! Thank you for your warm reception and I look forward to seeing your next production.

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