Cinderella

Leighton Buzzard have certainly started the year off well with this high energy, thoroughly entertaining pantomime under the direction of the experienced Kim Aguilar. Peter Bond’s excellent script suited them perfectly, deviating somewhat from the norm. Surprisingly, there was no dame or evil fairy and very little cross-dressing, with Prince Charming being played by a male - which I don’t recall seeing before - and nearly all the characters interacted directly with the audience at some time during the show, who absolutely lapped it up.  A totally up-to-date script with many references to social media and the ‘ugly’ sisters being permanently glued to their laptops. And, we started off with an extremely clever and original opening scene set in a job centre with Buttons applying for a job and getting one with Baron Hard-up.

The set, designed by Colin Aldous and Philip Pope, consisted of some well-chosen backcloths depicting Hard-up Hall, a woodland, and the Royal Palace. The rest, such as the job centre, were played to blacks. All were extremely slickly changed by the stage crew of Philip Pope, Simon Theodorou, Mary Blease and Martine Tournay under the management of Michael Aguilar.

Lighting by Dave Miles was, as usual, spot on and cued to perfection.  Sound by Rob Denehan was particularly impressive with an excellent balance between the band and the vocals which were crystal clear. Not often I say that!

Props under the management of Janet Murray and Mary Blease were very good and the source of some amusement. For example, when Fanny lies inside a half-built flatpack cupboard they are attempting to put together in order to hold the door up whilst it is being attached, but her clothing gets caught on one of the hinges and proves difficult to detach, she sticks her head out aside to the audience and says, ‘...don’t worry it’s all in the script.’ Hilarious! But the ‘piece-de-resistance’ has to go to Leighton Buzzard’s Men’s Shed, a community space for meeting others with varying skills and abilities, who designed the magnificent coach for Cinderella to go to the ball. Nice job fellas!

Choreography by Rachel Long was delightfully old school and nicely coordinated. The band, of MD and keyboard, Colin Kaye, Joe Kaye on drums and Debbie Kaye and Sue Williams on vocals, were a very professional outfit!

Costumes by Kim Aguilar, Maralyn Hopley and Mary Blease suitably defined each character perfectly, with some very clever and extremely fast changes which made you do a double take. For example, Mr Bear, humorously played by Corrina Brodie, changed into a mouse under the cover of the plinth in a matter of seconds. Very clever. And, of course, the power of Ally Bayliss-Hardy’s fairy Twinkle and her magic where Cinders twirled her way from scullery maid to ballroom outfit before our very eyes.  All appropriately offset with some superb OTT makeup, especially for the ugly sisters, by Lauren Waters.

The characters in this production all played it to the hilt. The put-upon Cinderella, superbly played by Gemma Thomas, led the way. And what a singing voice she has! The jovial but slightly dumb Buttons, played by Tara Pathirana, always bubbly and smiling. The dour, long faced Baron Hard-up played by Rob Taylor, weighed down by the mounting debt hoist upon him by his lavish spending daughters. Laura Loughran, the cold-hearted wicked stepmother with a wonderfully evil laugh, and my favourite baddies the superbly played ugly sisters. Olivia Davies as Fanny and Maggie Moulds as Polly. The chemistry and banter between them was on a different level! Extremely funny! And my goodness could these two put over a powerful number or two!

On the royal side, Ben Dards looking like a cross between Kings George III and Henry VIII in a superb black wig was a very tongue-in-cheek regal figure. Louis Fordham was the lovestruck, ‘Fitbit’-wearing Prince Charming, unusually, but very well played by a man. Tony White, looking every inch the French aristocrat, was having a ball as the ‘badly’ accented Marquis de Bonbon! And the wonderfully named Sir Cumference played by Harry Mason, another LBDG member with a voice to die for!

But my favourite named character has to be Paragraph, played by Jan Murray, who came out with what I thought was the best line in the show, when asked why she was called Paragraph, replied ‘Because I’m too short to be called a Page!’. Surprisingly, I’d not heard that one before! I’m still laughing.

The rest of the cast: Dee Denehan playing mouse Philly and Musketeer – often pronounced as ‘must get here’, and Heather Brodie-Shaw appearing as the parrot and Hussar - forcefully pronounced as ‘Hazzar!’, supported the action well.

Thanks to Caroline and all at LBDG for accommodating both our postponed trip from last week caused by a blow out on our way to you and finding an extra seat for my colleague, Simon Tuck – it’s always a pleasure to see your shows.

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