Cinderella

The society’s annual pantomime feast is always eagerly anticipated and this years was no exception with a capacity audience showing their appreciation throughout.

A cast of eighteen included several members of the BAODS junior section, SPOTS, and their new youth group, Northern Lights, and hopefully they will have found the challenge of working within a theatrical style requiring different skills from the norm and alongside older, very experienced performers, both rewarding and enjoyable.  Most of them looked pretty happy enough on stage which is a very good start.

I liked Holly White as Prince Charming.  She has a nice presence on stage and performed strongly, always with a smile on her face.  Melanie Kendal was a good support for her as Dandini.  A big opportunity was presented to Sebastian Carvill-Belt who played Buttons and he handled the part well for someone of his age.  He’s learning all the time as is his sister, Arabella, who was a lovely Cinderella.

As far as the adults were concerned, like the youngsters they will have found the production challenging but we were in capable hands.  Graham Beeston and Mike Hammond cemented everything together with their enjoyable Ugly Sisters partnership.  Roger Fozzard and Pat Hughes as Baron and Baroness Hardup extracted as much as they could from their parts, as did Jayne Rowlands as the Fairy Godmother.

There were plenty of songs, well accompanied by MD David Cox, and most of them were kept short which, for me, is right in Panto.  There was a bit of movement and also a slapstick sketch and costumes and set were bright and effective.

This was a suitable remedy for post-Christmas blues.

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