Aladdin and the Wonderful Lamp

As many appreciate, a pantomime can be a youngsters very first musical experience and arguably there can be none more important than one that caters for all ages in the best of traditional style, with some topical and local references added for good measure. The Norbury Players under the capable direction of both debutant John Birchley and Anne Lane, gave us a charming version of Aladdin that provided all the traditional ingredients you can hope for.

The show opens at Abanazar’s Hideaway and ‘Abanazer’ himself is played with great strength and evil intent by Jack Gandy, who seeks to find the young unsuspecting Aladdin, to do his bidding and find the hidden treasure and the magic lamp. Both the ‘Genie of the Lamp’ (Alex Stallard) and ‘Spirit of the Ring’ (Erin Maiden) interpreted and performed their roles well, often delivering their lines with humour.

But there was no shortage of humour throughout; David Goode  as ‘Widow Twankey’ had great stage presence, some sensational costumes and especially fine headgear including  a laundry basket and one more akin to a cactus! His one son ‘Wishee Washee’ played by Carl Smythe  gave a  ‘simple’ portrayal which the audience loved whilst other son ‘Aladdin’ played by Emma Waters gravitated from work shy absentee to willing hero with panache and a good voice. I particularly liked her harmonious 1st act duet with ‘Princess Jasmin’, played with great royal style by Charlotte Mortimer. Her assistant ‘Sing Sing’ (Lauren Bough) also acted and sang well.

More humour was added by ‘The Chief of Police’ (Jo Lush) and ‘PC Pong’ (Jimmy Hill) who worked well together and their sand dance was great fun. The principal line up was completed with great support from Glynis Smith as ‘Empress of Peking’ and Ed Butler as ‘Grand Vizier’.

The set and lighting worked well and scenes moved from one to the next seamlessly and the entire cast were well dressed. Most of the chorus movement work was carried out in ‘line dance’ style, but was well rehearsed and I particularly enjoyed the Kirsty Purvis’ dances accompanying Abanazer in act 1 and the dance with Isis wings later in Abanazer’s Hideaway.

Musical direction was in the capable hands of Keith Lewis and I really liked the variety provided from a simple piano accompaniment to a fuller pre-recorded musical number, none of which overpowered the principals.

This production thoroughly deserved the full and enthusiastic audience and I enjoyed it too.

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