Aladdin

There is no better feeling at Christmas time than with a pantomime, Whitehaven Theatre Group have done some great pantos over the years, and I can assure you I was not disappointed this year. Sitting in the theatre where there was not an empty seat anywhere,  I anticipated that something special was about to happen.

The curtains opened and onto stage came Abanazar played by James Ridehalgh who was well deserving of his boos by the audience and this got louder everytime he came onto stage, playing a villain can be hard work especially if you do not get the responses from the audience but Abanazar had no problem with this at all. Alongside Abanazar was the Slave of the Ring played by Kate Johnston who just graced the stage with perfection, wonderful delivery of her lines and danced so effortlessly.

The ensemble opened with Dancing in the street and this was very impressive, good vocals, great dancing and lovely costumes, First time choreographers Demi Morgan and Rachel Donnan done an excellent job with the dance routines, all dances were full of energy, lovely smiles and the routines just got better as the show went on.

Shaun Donald was excellent as Widow Twanky, his make-up and many wonderful costumes added to the hilarity of his first class performance.

Louisa Morton as Whishee Washee brought out all the humour of the script especially with her goat named Willy, you can just imagine all the innuendos this was going to bring, and may I say it did not disappoint. A very confident all-round performance.

Aladdin played by Kayleigh Donald immediately fell in love with Princess Jasmine played by Cheyenne Raell both acted and sang with ease and playing their parts so well especially when they were flying on the magic carpet this looked so good  on stage but well done Aladdin a part which had everything from Comedy, singing and dancing which was executed at the highest level.

Emperor played by Jonathon Lucas and Handy played by Jess Redden were very convincing in these roles, and their costumes looked so good on stage.

When Aladdin rubbed the lamp, we got to see the fantastic Genie played by Grant Tebay and how good did he look, his appearance was awesome along with his acting and singing, shame he wasn’t on much as I could have watched him all night.

Now on to in my opinion one of the best comedy acts I have seen in a long time, PC Peasy played by Katrina McCrum and PC Squeezy played by Alison Maxwell. Your comedy timing was excellent and the way you both ran around the stage, peddling scooters or falling off chairs was very funny but my favourite part was the rhyming of Lanky, Chunky, Winky Wonky or something like this was hilarious along with the Chefs sketch a very well-polished performance.

To all the ensemble as I previously said your singing and dancing was brilliant along with your lovely smiles. All costumes were amazing; the stage and set was once again done to a high standard especially the flying carpet so a big shout out to Simpie the stage manager and his crew.

Lighting by Carl Barnes and the spotlights by Jonothan Spencer looked very good off stage, lots of colour and one of the best I have seen.

Sound went very well on the night.

A Great show needs a great Director and this was done by Jude Henderson and believe it or not this was Jude’s very first Panto as a director and what a job you have done, the show was fast paced, lively, funny and never lost its momentum at any time. A well-deserved round of applause from me.

Once again WTG, you put on a brilliant panto and the sold-out houses are telling you how good this show was so well done to everyone involved.

Jim Morgan

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