Cinderella

It was clear from the opening song that I was sitting in an audience who had definitely come to enjoy themselves, they were clapping in time and singing along right from the start and I’m sure they weren’t disappointed with what they saw.

Written by the Director, Darren Brown, this was a great version of the original Cinderella with some modern twists.  All the production team including Tim Sagar (Musical Director) and Louise Carter (Choreographer) have worked well together to produce some good musical numbers. It was great to see such a wide range of ages in the chorus and dancers with some of the little ones being very cute.

Cinderella (Lucy Morley) and Buttons (Andrew Bours ) worked well together with buttons getting the audience on his side from the beginning and Cinderella performing some lovely songs in between the onslaught from her wicked Stepmother and Sisters.

The poor Baron (Howard Ball) came across well as the brow beaten and sometime bungling husband to the Evil Baroness played for all her wicked worth by Kerry Mothershaw.

Both Chloe Carter as Fairy Goodenough and Linda Davenport as the Scottish dance instructor Aggie MacDougall added to the overall performance although I was uncertain about the relevance of the Scottish dancing scene in the overall picture of the show.

Personally I like to see female Principle Boys in pantos but Simon Pickford and Rob Slater did a great job and produced good characters as Prince Charming and Dandini and were funny when constantly being pursued by the Ugly Sisters.

Modern coffee today can be all froth and no substance but that was not the case with the Ugly Sisters Cappuchino (Chris Mann) and Skinny Latte (Micheal Daws). These two worked really well together playing both their parts for full comedic value and both worked the audience extremely well. It was also good to see some different ideas rather than the traditional dame’s costumes. Micheal has exceptional comic timing and the knack of using near to the knuckle comments without offending. He had us in stiches throughout.

The transition scene in Cinderella is always something to which I look forward, however, this is the one area of the Panto which fell short for me, no gauze, no mirror, no UV or smoke just a closing of the curtain and then reopening on the coach. It was such a shame as the Cinderella Coach with “Vinny” the live horse looked stunning. I just wanted a more interesting and magical way of producing this fantastic image.

During the closing song the Audience were still as enthusiastic as at the beginning. We had all had a great night of fun, with great musical numbers, bright costumes and the performances that only a lot of hard work and effort can produce.

Thank you for your hospitality on the night and the kind gift of the first thirty years history of Congleton Pantomime.

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