Aladdin

Rainhill Musical Theatre Company’s Pantomime this year was that ever popular story of Aladdin which was probably originally based on a middle eastern folk tale and is one of the stories from "The Arabian Nights" also known as “The Book of a Thousand and One Nights”, however it was not in the original Arabic text, but was added in the 18th century by the Frenchman Antoine Galland. With a script written by Tommy Dombavand and adapted by Director Bryan Dargie, the show starts with an appearance from the back of the hall of the wicked Egyptian Princess Abanazra played with lots of presence and suitable malevolence by Julie Molyneux, who got plenty of boos from the audience when she appeared on stage, she is desperate to find an ancient lamp which will make her the most powerful person in the world, so along with her assistant played very nicely  by Lucy Bradshaw named Shabti, which is a play on Shabti dolls (also known as shawbti and ushabti) and were funerary figures in ancient Egypt who accompanied the deceased to the after-life. These two characters along with the help of the cheeky, television loving Tracy, The Slave of the Ring- Pip Bradshaw set up the plot of the Pantomime for us all, Tracy tells Abanazra that if she wants to possess the lamp then she must travel to China as the lamp can be found in a cave just outside old Peking and only Aladdin can retrieve it, so Abanazra and Shabti go to China to find Aladdin and the cave. The actors in the central roles of Aladdin and Princess Blossom were David Stevens and Claire Jones, they both looked at home in their parts and made a nice pantomime central romantic couple. Aladdin’s mother Widow Twankey was played by a comedic Alan Harbottle who was assisted very well in his comedy capers by the talented Blathine Maguire as an excellent energetic Wishee-Washee, Aladdin’s younger sister. There was also a good comedic performance from Ruth Gibb as Constable Nee with Zoe Lawrence as Sergeant Naw as two inept policemen. Aladdin is taken to the cave by Abanazra, but after a disagreement she locks Aladdin in the cave with the lamp. Here he meets Trisha the Slave of The Lamp (Claire Heaton) and her daughter Jeannie the Genie (Grace Hodgson) who produced a very good lively performance in this important role. Jeannie helps Aladdin become a Prince as Blossom’s Father Emperor Xiaoli played by Liam Fitzgerald has decreed that the Princess can only marry a Prince.  Aladdin and Blossom go on to have a few more adventures before finally thing end happy ever after. The chorus appeared to be enjoying themselves very much putting lots of energy into their performance, supporting the principle cast very well and generally, diction, projection and clarity of words was very good meaning the story could be followed easily

  I really enjoyed the song choices which were performed with gusto and confidence, and they were complemented by effective energetic choreography from Lucy Bradshaw, Katie Molyneux, Grace Hodgson, Claire Jones and Bryan Dargie which was performed expertly by all the cast.

The soloist and chorus were accompanied by an excellent live band which was great to listen to and were led by Musical Director Wayne Oakes on Keyboard with Mike Ciaputa on Guitar, Kev Bates -Bass and Theo Fowler on Drums.  

This production had some brave contemporary content changes from what is thought to be usual for a well-known traditional Aladdin Pantomime, for example the cave scene is usually very colourful with lots of jewels, but in this production, it was rather dark and spooky, with the chorus playing spirits and ghosts in black or white cloaks and hoods. Also, the costumes which are usually colourful ornate Chinese or Arabic costumes  also had a  more contemporary feel, as some of the cast including the Princess and Aladdin appeared to be following a Gothic or modern-day theme by wearing baseball caps, T shirts, trainers and leggings and some cast members also had white or pale faces with black lipstick, however there were other members of the cast who did wear traditional Chinese dress which added some colour to the stage.

Well done to the all backstage Crew, set builders and painters who made excellent use of the stage area and produced a striking effective set which included, bamboo, Chinese symbols, and red dragons and there was good technical input and smooth scene changes which helped to keep the show running at a good pace, the backstage crew’s contribution to a show must never be underestimated.

Congratulations to everyone involved in bringing this entertaining contemporary production to the stage, thank you for inviting us we had a lovely friendly evening

© NODA CIO. All rights reserved.