Cinderella

I looked at the cast list and thought, my goodness, how are they going to get all those people on stage, it will look really crowded. With careful planning, choreography and direction there was no problem at all, I think that the only time they were all on stage, apart from the really youngest was at the curtain call.

A full house was ready for an afternoon of traditional pantomime fun and they got this without a doubt. With a large audience entering the auditorium this ensured that the show was a little late starting, always a nightmare for the production team, and all those chaperones. The Show started with a dance routine with a good backcloth, here I will say that both the sets and the choregraphy were really good throughout the whole show, it is worth spending the money to have some really good scenery and set pieces. Lighting throughout was very good, just one lingering follow spot after the curtains had closed, and sound levels were generally good with a well conduct band led by Mark Checkley.  The time and effort that the Choreographers Poppy and Charlotte put into drilling all the various age groups with their dance routines really paid off as the movement and timing was very good, right down to the chorus youngsters with their ‘cowboy/line dance routine’ and Juniors with their animals in the wood sequence.

Costuming must have been a nightmare with the large company to dress all matching in the different routines and scenes. Talking of costumes, the Dames costumes were suitably large and over the top, Buttons looked very smart in his many changes, ragged Cinderella had a lovely dress for the Ball, Prince Charming and Dandini were very suitably smartly costumed as was the Fairy Godmother and the Baroness, Baron Hardup less so, presumably as he was hard up (I must admit his long socks/tights? and wig irritated me, I’ve done too much costuming of shows!).

The company singing was good although occasionally the words were not clear, but this didn’t really matter as there were good solid songs that the audience would know well – We are Family, Money Money Money, Rock around the Clock etc. The principals gave some very good renditions of their songs, I particularly enjoyed ‘One Short Day’ with Dandini and Prince Charming, ‘I’ll be There For You’ and ‘When will my Life Begin’ with Buttons and Cinderella, also with all the principals singing ‘We Found Love’.

There were good strong performances from the younger principals Emily Hales and Jazz Macrorie who were well suited as Prince Charming and Dandini, they worked nicely together and were confident in their roles, with Emily working well with Ivy Freeman Hall as Cinderella, a good choice there. Ivy had a good rapport with Niall McGarrity who was very good as Buttons, not normally cast with such a young actor. They worked very well together and were a confident couple of performers and strong singers, they coped well with the late arrival of the Ugly Sisters at one point. These were played by Bobby Herman and Andrew Downing who made the most of their entrance through the auditorium. I felt here that the principals waiting on stage could have made use of a bit of ad-libbing whilst the audience waited for that long entrance to the stage. These two played up to their characters and gave fun and laughter to the audience. Sarah Dorson was a suitably nasty Baroness and Tim Hind played a timid Baron. Jess Godding as Snatch and Samantha Bix as Snitch the Broker’s Men gave us an entertaining twosome and brought to life ‘Cotton Eyed Joe’. The kindly old Lady, aka the Fairy Godmother was brought to us by Justine McGarrity but outshone by her son Niall (Buttons) who performed very confidently the audience Participation song. This was a good lively pantomime that involved the audience and the many children who joined in the audience song and dance.

Congratulations to all the cast, to the enormous crew back stage and to director Lisa Homes for a pantomime that Stamford could enjoy and be proud of.

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