Cinderella

What is every child’s wish when they go to see a panto production of Cinderella? A fairy that sparkles, a Cinderella who is like a big sister that they can look up to, a magical transformation, two nasty ugly sisters, a friend for Cinderella, a handsome Prince, and a glittering coach to take Cinderella to the ball. In SPADS panto all these wishes came true. 

The minimalist set proved once and for all that all you need is a child’s imagination to make everything seem real and the audience loved it.

Carly Bays as Fairy Godmother was perfect in her costume that sparked from head to toe. A magical opening. Diction was clear and well-paced and command of the stage good.

Izzy Black as Cinderella was well cast, having a natural connection with the audience and excellent facial expressions. Musicality was well placed and both solos and duets sung with confidence. I enjoyed your performance very much. Well done.

Emma Cole as Alice had to work hard both as Cinderella’s friend and her love for Buttons. A complicated role to achieve when displaying various emotions depending on who she was interacting with. This young actress was able to show how versatile she can be, and I hope she performs more in the future.

Josh Clarke as Buttons never fails to connect with his audience the moment he appears on stage. The audience warm to him and are keen to see just how silly he can be. Dialogue was slick and well delivered, giving his audience time to get the jokes before he moved on to the next one. Great timing.

Corrina Foley as Baroness Hardup was suitably evil, and I thought the evil laugh was nasty enough to make a point but not scare the tiny children in the audience. I would have liked her makeup to be more accentuated and her hair more severe as the style tended to give her character a softness, nevertheless good communication with the audience and I loved “Killer Queen”, a great choice of song.

Peter Wright as Hayley Tosis and Ollie Pajak as Ginger Vitus, the two ugly sisters, made a credible pair of nasty sisters. However, I needed to feel more sisterly plotting and skulduggery and the connection between the two didn’t always gel. Perhaps a musical number between the two of them might have done the trick.

Noah Clarke and Jordan Clarke as Dan and Dini were a great pair together. Brothers in real life, they performed perfectly side by side and their connection with the audience was superb. The children loved them, as a little girl sitting next to me told me,” they’re soooooo silly, can they come to my house and play?”

Lewis Clarke gave us a slightly different image of the traditional Prince Charming but one that I warmed to and I enjoyed this new interpretation very much. Not only a handsome prince but one who could sing, dance and connect with all members of the cast with ease. Congratulations. I really enjoyed the “Boy Band”.

Last but by no means least, Alan Reilly as the King completed the line up of extremely well cast characters. Each displaying their individual strengths as performers.

The all singing and dancing chorus worked very hard and I was so pleased to see so many smiling faces. It really does make a difference if the company appear to be enjoying themselves. 

The choice of music was fabulous and MD Tom Nichol expertly controlled his 5 piece band so that not once did the music appear to loud or compete with those on stage. 

Costumes were bright and colourful and for the most part fitted extremely well. The transformation was cleverly achieved and caused a gasp from the unsuspecting audience. 

Lighting worked effectively and sound was good.

Going to a Pantomime Matinee is one of my favourite outings around Christmas time and if a company connects with its predominately young audience and has them laughing, clapping and shouting because they are enjoying themselves so much then that company has achieved their aim and performed to a very high standard. Congratulations you did a great job.

Thank you for inviting me and I hope to see you soon.

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