Cinderella

As always Roadwater Players panto begin the festive season with true community spirit, the villagers packed village hall and the children buzzed with excitement when in a flash we met the Fairy Godmother who took us into the fairy tale world of one of the best loved pantomimes. Nigel had updated the script and this meant the younger members of the company could take more prominent roles, one of these being Penny the Fairy side kick who held her own among the more experienced performers. Cinderella was as pretty as a picture and grew in confidence and the show progressed and handled her amazing transforming gown with finesse. The accolade for crazy capers must go to Back and Sides who sadly was missing Short due to ill health, not to be thrown by their missing pal they covered the lines and action and no one would be none the wiser unless they looked in the programme, great team work and fab musicality, especially from Back who commanded the stage and quickened the pace. The King, Queen and Lord Chamberlain made another good comedy trio and the Baron caused much hilarity.
For some reason musically the show was not quite as on the ball as in the past but the dreaded throat infections had hit so allowances must be made, but, as is often the case the person who really catches the eye is often not who you expect and in this case it was one of the ensemble, Tabitha vocally brought so much power to the big chorus numbers and it lifted the whole proceedings, well done you, what a great voice you have I hope we get to hear you do more in the future.
Scenery and costumes were beautifully created although there seemed to be issues with the carriage but Buttons in typical style covered the issue well. Lighting and special effects improve year on year in this tiny venue, it just shows that with a little thought and consideration lovely things can be achieved. Now, I mentioned the transformation earlier but special congratulations to Wendy Littler who created the transforming rags to riches creation, literally seconds onstage in a blast of smoke, fantastic! And a true highlight of the evening…. Every little girl wanted the dress and the boys wanted to know how it happened…. Just perfect.

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