Cinderella

Cinderella  a pantomime, performed by the Waterloo and Crosby  Theatre Company at Bootle Town Hall on Friday 14th December, 2018;  Directed by Julie Cook and choreographed by Sarah Henshaw.
It may have been a cold, damp, dreary Friday night in December, but Waterloo and Crosby Theatre Company certainly warmed us all up and transported us to panto land with their version of the much loved folk tale, Cinderella.  The tale tells of a young girl, Cinderella, whose father remarries after the death of her mother.  ‘Cinders’ find herself at the mercy of her stepmother and her much scheming step-sisters, but she never gives up hope!  She meets an old lady in the woods and then a dashing young man and her fortunes begin to change!
This was a ‘Cinderella’ for everyone; no unsavoury scenes, impolite language or scanty dressed girls; although that couldn’t be said for at least one male..David!  With good old fashioned humour from start to finish, audience participation, children on stage and to top it all...their very own rendition of ‘Baby Shark’, what else could one ask for!  . 
The cast.... Cinderella was confidently played by Aimee Parry who was taking her first lead role for the company.  Aimee had good stage presence and a lovely singing voice; her rendition of ‘God Help the Outcasts’ was one of the highlights of the show for me!   She was complemented in her role by Hannah Johnson who gave an assured performance as Prince Charming.  Hannah also sang very well and their voices blended nicely together during their duet ‘Just like we dreamed it’. Together they made a very good Pantomime leading couple.

Buttons was played really well by Megan French who was confident in her role and had a good rapport with the audience.  Two young lads..Tommy Austin (Aged 11) and Joseph Ramsay (Aged 10) played the parts of Dandini and Cyril Doogooder respectively. Both gave performances of note especially Tommy, whose timing, confidence and delivery, belied his years! 

We had a trio in the house... Dolly, Mouldy and Mildew: Patricia Howard, Kaitlyn Cumberbirch and Gemma Dutton, played the parts of the Cook and house maids in the Baron’s House.  All three worked well together with some good comedy interludes.   Their ‘so called boss’ ‘The Baron’ was played well by Jason Sinclair.
And then we had the ‘real boss’ The Baroness....played superbly by Callum Ashton. Callum had all the attributes to be ‘evil’ and delivered them with great aplomb and received the necessary reactions from the audience (boo’s and hisses) to confirm his endeavours were on point.. well done Callum.  

From ‘Evil’ to ‘Good’.....yes from The Baroness to our Fairy Godmother....where we found Sarah Henshaw, who played a number of roles, but it was as the Fairy Godmother that she shone! 
Her rendition of the song ‘The Greatest Showman’ was, for me, another show stopping moment! 
Not only did Sarah sing it well, but in company with the cast danced it really well....congratulations Sarah! 
However, we go from ‘show stoppers’ to ‘show stealers’....for me Alexander Edger (Grimma) and David Wanless (Biggeta) our Ugly Sisters were not only individually ‘brilliant’ but as a duo they were ‘show stealers’!   They held the show together, their interaction with cast and audience was superb and their comedy timing impeccable.. well done you two!
There were many others involved in this panto, individually, too numerous to mention, but as an ensemble they worked well together and supported the principle cast admirably. But, I would like to take this opportunity to highlight just one sassy young lady who ‘stood out’ from the crowd; Jessica Keggins was that young lady. Aged just 8, she danced and performed her stocks off with a smile that never left her face....a star for the future I have no doubt!
Dancing and choreography was simple yet effective, even the ‘littlies’ knew their steps enough not to be looking at their neighbours for what came next which was a credit to Sarah Henshaw who was choreographing her very first full production....well done Sarah!.
The music was a combination of backing tracks and live music, superbly led by Anne Dickinson and accompanied by Tony Piert on drums.
Lighting was simple but effective; Sound started off a little wobbly, with possibly some ‘individual mikes’ not functioning as they should; but that seemed to get corrected after a while and did not detract to much from the overall production! 
A minimal set was handled expertly by Colin Wilson and his ‘Backstage Team’. Props were good and added to the overall performance as were the costumes, designed and created by Linda Hansen ...congrats on a job well done.  Every inch of a compact stage area was used to its maximum potential. The cast worked well together with no real weak links; congratulation to Julie Cook on her direction, casting and endeavour.
I always think the way to gauge the success of a pantomime is by audience reaction, participation and involvement...if that’s the case then this certainly was a job well done!  
Congratulations to Waterloo and Crosby Theatre Company for creating and bringing the magic of pantomime to life. Thank you for your hospitality and for making my wife and I and Pat and Christine feel so welcome.  Have a wonderful Christmas and a prosperous New Year and we will hopefully see you all again in 2019.
Jim Briscoe

© NODA CIO. All rights reserved.