Cinderella

This extremely jolly panto provided everything a panto should, including an avidly enthusiastic audience – Ewhurst’s reputation obviously spreads far and wide. Wendy Davies, the Director, had put together a fine cast, and Musical Director Simon Fraser provided so many musical delights, with himself on the keyboards, Bob Foley and Phil Waller on bass and drums respectively.

The well-designed programme made interesting reading, not least because of Wendy Davies’ decision to write, not the usual Director’s Note, but a piece in praise of the work of costume teams. How right she is, great costumes can make so much difference to a production, especially so in pantomime, where one hopes to dazzle and sow a seed in the younger generation, as Simon Fraser set out in his Chairman’s welcome. The programme also contained photos from Ewhurst’s previous pantos over the last 40 years or so, asking whether we could spot faces in these among today’s performers. Good cast profiles, a panto quiz, a wordsearch and a  piece on the Players completed the programme.

The curtain rose onto a beautiful village set projected onto a backdrop, complete with fine clocktower. We were introduced to the delightful Fairy Godmother, played charmingly and with great verve, and in amusing rhyme of course, by Claire Williams, with a wonderful shocking pink wig. The villagers gathered around, with their baskets and so on, and there were some perky young ones too, and they were astonished to see Dandini and Prince Charming, who were discussing the Prince’s need to find a wife. Buttons appeared and told us of his love for Cinderella, and that he was always trying to find the right moment to tell her how he felt. The first lively number was a funny version of ‘A dedicated follower of fashion’, this one talking about ‘This panto full of idiots and passion’. The ugly sisters, Cheryl and Beryl, were fabulous, a pair of the best ugly sisters I’ve seen in a while, persecuting various members of the audience, as well as the cast, with their unadulterated passion, in their amazing costumes, wigs and makeup. Great performances by Charlie McLean and Barrie Harrison-Fudge. Baron Hardup had invested the last of his money in a racehorse, for whom he had high hopes. Buttons was charged with training this old nag to be a first-class steeplechaser!  Dorking Dumpling, as the horse was called, was a sweet thing with a great face, huge eyes and eyelashes, and a shiny mane and tail. Felix Cuthbert and Jay Garland made him very characterful, and he certainly had a good kick! His owner, Baron Hardup was admirably played in very difficult circumstances by George Yates, who had declared himself willing to step in at only 3 hours’ notice following, sadly, two previous barons having fallen ill. Thank you, George.

The Baron seemed to have a loving relationship with his pretty daughter Cinderella, but sadly he never seemed to be around when her horrid stepmother and stepsisters ordered her about. This horrid stepmother, Lady Devilia Hardup was played with great aplomb and menace by Zara Morley, her costume was marvellous, dark purple and black, with a spiky black crown. At one point she gave her 2 ‘beautiful’ daughters a huge silver coin with which to go to the sweetshop! These daughters incidentally got expelled from St Catherine’s High School in Bramley.

Snitch and Snatch, the bailiffs sent to confiscate all the Baron’s possessions, made a wonderfully hapless pair, though later they made seemingly efficient palace security guards. They were played very amusingly by real-life sisters Cath van’t Riet and Julia Heathcote. Once again, great casting, as it was quite difficult to tell them apart and that added to the fun. Nikki Bradley and Lucy Burr gave us a Dandini and Prince Charming full of character, they made a great team and looked great in their fine costumes.

Buttons, a touching character here, not too confident and cheeky as he is sometimes played, was a lovely performance from Daniel Williams. I think we all felt for him as he forlornly watched Cinders fall for the Prince, and yet stayed helpful and supportive to her throughout. Were this a Gilbert and Sullivan story, he would have found someone to pair up with for a happy ending!  Steph Kay made a lovely Cinderella, kindly towards Buttons, and not so downtrodden as some, a modern Cinderella.

There were all kinds of amusing elements: a version of the Dad’s Army theme tune to the words:  ‘Who do you think you’re kidding, Baron Hardup’, for example, as people met Dorking Dumpling and heard of his ambitions for her winning the Grand National. Water pistols were in evidence. First tiny ones, then bigger ones, and finally buckets – a nervous moment, until they turned out to be full of silver streamers! The ugly sisters had their legs waxed and their lips botoxed, that caused great hilarity, not least due to the sound of the filler being syringed in by Buttons.

The children made beautiful silver clad creatures in the pumpkin scene, and danced very well.

The ball scene contained a fun version of: What a picture, what a photograph!  And so it continued, fast paced, full of pizzazz, never a dull moment, well directed by Wendy Davies, with a great cast all round, and great teamwork.

A great way to spend a dull February evening!

 

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