Hansel and Gretel The Panto

A well written panto by Alan P Frayne, this year the Pepperpot Players travelled to Muncheon  Luncheon to meet Hansel and Gretel and a rich assortment of characters that invited an enthusiastic audience to cheer and boo along to the classic fairy- tale, when good eventually triumphed over evil.

The title roles of Hansel and Gretel were confidently played by Lucy Tyrrell and Maisie Quinn respectively; Maisie had a lovely smiling face and Lucy provided just the right amount of brotherly attention both speaking up and sang ‘Wouldn’t it be Loverly’ very well.

No panto is complete without a good Dame and Marcus DeLorenzo after a slightly nervous start fulfilled the role of Peggy Pumpernickel with ease, gaining confidence as the performance progressed until Marcus fully captured the audience attention alerting her to those knocking her knocker! A great performance.

Throughout the remaining cast, there were several impressive ‘double-acts’. Fairy Bluebell (Casey Benson) and the wicked Nightshade (Karen Evans) gave us plenty to cheer and boo. Both sang well; Casey with ‘All is Found’ backed by the animals and gypsies with some great choreography, and Karen’s ‘Trust in Me’. Throughout Karen was both evil and very funny with some wonderful facial expressions.

Fritz (Andrew Evans) and much to his concern operating under the spell of Nightshade, Hildegard (Chris Kislak) worked well together and I liked their number ‘The Money Song’. Meanwhile Reuben Vickers played a very confident and endearing Wally, a master of the bad joke which we all enjoyed immensely and Heather, Played by Jess Tracelyn Crook, made for an attractive pairing with Prince Johann (Daisey-May Jones) who both sang ‘Start of Something New’ beautifully.

Great support was provided by Benedict Haller (Wolfgang), J’Dunn Gormley (Klaus), Indiah Hanks (Otto), Krista Passberger (Nutmeg), Steve Crofts (Basil) who sang ‘I’ll Be There for You’ well, with added fun provided by Tim Wilson and Trevor Mullan as Russell and Sheryl Crow.

Throughout the show there was some varied and exciting choreography which the cast had obviously rehearsed well in addition to the Company numbers with some good harmonies. Three Gypsy Singers (Chloe Yates, Willow Haynes and Joss Fisher) provided some great backing to several numbers and moved well.

Once again, the set was well constructed and beautifully painted including the forest, the gypsy and Ginger Bread cottages, and I liked the circus tent effect during the final Act 1 number ‘Come Alive’. The costumes were fantastic too, all clearly representing a lot of work which clearly added to the overall presentation.   The band of 6 players was just right providing the right level of backing – For me I always believe a good band is the one you hardly notice - and a compliment.

Congratulations to Chloe Yates in her first panto direction and all others involved in a great team effort. I look forward to ‘The Wizard of Oz’.

© NODA CIO. All rights reserved.