Alice in Pantoland

This original production, written by company choreographer Joe Logan was premiered by the talented members of Birmingham Youth Theatre.

Directed by Mark Shaun Walsh, the panto tells us how Alice (played well by Rhianna Otero Salgado) is frustrated by her mother played by   Cameron Simpson, who gave a good interpretation as the Queen of Hearts. While in the woods Alice falls asleep under a tree.  A White Rabbit (Anna Simpson) appears and Alice follows it down a rabbit hole where she meets a variety of Panto characters, including The Mad Hatter Emily Ewins), Cinderella (Lily Mae Nicholls), Tinkerbell (Emily Green) and Aladdin (Wiktoria Matysiak).  All residents of the country of Happy Ever After.  She also meets the baddies who live if Happy Never After, Caraboose (Georgina Otero Salgado), Abanazar (Bethany Gilbert), The Baroness (Lucy Bisseker) and Captain Hook (Ethan Terry).  While on her journey she also meets her soul mate Prince Jack played by Daniel Porter.  Daniel gave a strong performance and his singing and dancing shone.    With a cast of 38 it is impossible to mention everyone, but all of the cast played their roles well.

The costumes, by Julie Albas and assisted by Angela Hughes, were outstanding and looked really well from an audience point of view.  Lighting was good and effective.  The sound sometimes was intermittent, and it was a shame that the mic was playing up during the first song (I want to Break Free) but Rhianna carried on regardless.  The band, under the Musical Direction of Chris Corcoran sounded good and did well not to drown out the voices on stage.

Well done to you all.

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