Sleeping Beauty

I may have said before that I wonder why people buy very expensive tickets to see a professional Pantomime when, for half the price, they can take their family to a production as good as LMCS’ version of Sleeping Beauty.  I tried both this year and this one definitely came out on top. I missed their last year’s show but Keith went in my stead and he said it was brilliant. Well I can say the same of this year’s. My companion and I were still laughing about it when we parted company. Well done.

The star of this version was without a doubt Ruth Roberts who gave an outstanding performance as ‘Malevolent’ the wicked witch. Her costume was perfect and her characterisation filled the stage with evil on every appearance. In total contrast Jonathan Groves as ‘Nurse Nelly’ was all a dame should be with so many wonderful costumes and just the right approach to the audience. Luke Scattergood as her side kick was the perfect foil adding huge amounts of fun and singing some great songs together, joined by ‘Sampson’ played, as always with great conviction, by Mark Roberts.

I loved Barbara Howland, Janet Webb and Saskia Whittle as the trio of fairies. All three were very different making their scenes fascinating to watch and their musical numbers a joy to hear.

Regarding the songs in the show I thought the choices were ideal being a thoroughly good mixture memorable, up to date and golden oldies suited to every age group. Both Saxona Woolgar and Luke Martin, as the Princess and Prince, looked right, acted with feeling and sang movingly. The leading Lady and Man are not easy parts to play in Panto as there is never much to ‘get their teeth into’ but these two carried it off well. The other four principals, Ian Weston as the King, Damone Whittle as the Queen and John Carroll and Barry Bastable as the two funny guys gave excellent, very different and equally important performances which is one of the reasons why this was one of the best Pantomimes that I have seen in a long time. By the way I loved the Dog. The children acted and sang as a great little team, especially in the opening, dancing round the May Pole, and the chorus moved really well especially in ‘Time of My Life’ closing the production with a flourish.

Whoever was behind the set design had it working to a T, especially the use of the front left steps for the evil witch. A few easily moveable props added to the complete changes of scene. The lighting worked well, the sound in the hands of Brian Mercer was great and the Wardrobe mistress and her team should be congratulated on the choice and variety of delightful costumes. The company numbers had been imaginatively choreographed and were well-sung keeping a good balance between singers and orchestra who played to support rather than drowning out the vocals. My congratulations Michelle, for a great show.

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