Cinderella

Dereham Theatre Company – Cinderella

Following a warm welcome from DTC President, Jill Everett, we were shown into the Memorial Hall. It was good that so many people were in the audience to see the opening night of Cinderella.

With a large flash, magically onto the stage appeared the Fairy Godmother, (Cherie Wild) who then told us what we were about to see. She was a vision in pink and with her clear and consistent vocals, both singing and speaking, she got us off to a cracking start. She was helped in her mission by some mini-Fairies (Charlotte Flavell, Ellena Weston, Evie Powell, Lily Hamilton and Orson Knights) and their delightful dancing and clear dialogue made them an instant audience favourite.

The young ensemble cast then burst onto the stage with an energetic opening number and are soon joined by Cinderella (Rebecca Ludman). This young lady looked every part the Cinders you would expect and gave a performance to match. Her strong acting, singing and dancing shining through and she gave us a great wow moment as she went off to the ball in her magnificent coach. While collecting wood she meets her “Prince”, Prince Charming (Charlie Summer) and his debut performance was assured and confident and with Rebecca they made an ideal pantomime leading couple. The prince is ably assisted by his faithful servant Dandini, (Jess Lloyd), another debut performance but you would never have guessed. She had an “air” about her that belied her experience and gave us a very rousing vocal opening to act two. To complete the royal lineup is the Queen (Philippa Baillie) and this lady never disappoints, this was an experienced performance. She gives us everything that you could want from a Panto Queen.

Cinderella is not Cinderella without her Buttons (Ryan Standing) and what a Buttons he was. His level of energy as he worked his audience to extract as many laughs and shouts as he could. His corny jokes and silly songs had us all groaning with delight. His relationships with all the other characters made him a highlight and we knew something would happen every time he came onto the stage. Cinderella is unusual in that it has two dames and we had Tess (Lee Knights) and Claudia (Charlie Collins). These two arrived on stage looking suitably outrageous and bickering constantly. As is tradition, they changed costumes every time they came on and as they tried to find new husbands struck fear into the hearts of any men sitting close to the front.   

I am sure that Director (Paul Woodhouse with his assistant Karen Bates), Musical Director (Michael Stoker) and choreographer (Danielle Standing) were very pleased with the first performance and are looking forward to a very successful run.

NODA owns the intellectual Property Rights to the content of all show reports written by Noda Councillors, Representatives and Assistant Representatives.  

 

© NODA CIO. All rights reserved.