Cinderella

Cinderella is one of the best loved of all the traditional pantomimes with its rags to riches story of a beautiful downtrodden poor girl that ends up marrying the prince of her dreams a favourite of both young and old. This version written by David Swan described as an alternative version of an original tale, was set on Halloween, giving the company an opportunity to add in all things spooky in the performance. On arrival to the suitably decorated Memorial Hall, a pre-performance/photo opportunity was playing out, with the cast already out front in character offering tours of the spooky castle to audience members.

WBLOS has a real community feel and I know I’ve mentioned before I really like the way the youth performers are so fully involved taking on principal roles, some lovely cameos and more than holding their own alongside the adult performers. Traditional panto humour was introduced right from the start with wicked witch Zelda and her two evil sidekicks Trick  and Treat describing their evil plans to lots of “boos” from the audience. In contrast Wanda the good fairy helping to thwart their attempts. Buttons was bright and cheerful and worked hard at keeping the audience participation going, not an easy task. Ugly Sister’s Potterina  and Lavatrina  were appropriately loud, over the top and brash with colourful makeup and costumes to match their personalities. Cinderella and Prince Charming worked well together, I enjoyed the nod to Dirty Dancing, that worked well. Dandini  performed enthusiastically using both her voice and physicality to portray this almost arrogant version of Dandini. Downtrodden Boris had some strong characterisation. Pongo  falling in love with the ”audience member” was a great moment. Most of the ensemble had a named role and individual character and I can’t mention everyone, but as ever they all worked well together. 

Director Marion Aspell made the most of the space, using different levels and all the possible entrance/exits to great effect. The set worked well and was effective. I liked the use of film for the transformation scene, but at times it was difficult to fully see all of it as the audience seats are on the flat, so I lost a bit of the magic. The audience were kept guessing on the many exits and entrances in and around the auditorium during the chase sequence which might have benefited from being shortened to maintain the storyline’s momentum and pace?

The choreography was minimal but well thought out and in keeping with the musical numbers. The costumes and make up enhanced the characters. The lighting design was well thought out. There were some issues with sound imbalance, with some of the smaller voices that were not mic’d getting a bit lost. Musical Magician Dennis Golding guided the singing along to the backing tracks, as well as on guitar, some great tunes in there.

The show was well received by its audience of the local community, family and friends who booed and cheered, and clearly had a great night out. Thank you for inviting me, I look forward to seeing you all again soon.

These comments solely reflect the view of the Representative and can only relate to the performance seen.

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