Snow White

Vicki Beauregard

This production of Snow White opened on a bare stage except for an ornate mirror, with the dramatic entrance of evil Queen Griselda, step mother to Snow White, who promptly introduced herself as being thoroughly vile, which elicited much boing from the audience.  During her conversation with the mirror we learn that it is Snow White’s 18th birthday and that the mirror reveals that Snow White is now the Fairest in the Land, and Griselda is furious.  The back tabs then opened to reveal the first of several well painted backcloths of a village scene and the villagers bursting into a cheery energetic opening number, which set the energy level for the evening. 

All the backcloths were hired in and they were all well painted, with a great deal of detail and looked very good, especially the Miners Cottage.  These combined with insets for other scenes, furniture, set dressing, props and the use of tabs took the audience to all the locations demanded by the script.  The lighting had been designed to enhance both scenery and costumes, with evil lighting for the prologue, lots of green when Griselda was on stage, mysterious woodland, and interior and exterior scenes.  There were well cued sound effects particularly the woodland sounds and thunder.  Some of the cast used microphones and some of the levels were not well balanced, much of the time being too loud so that some of the singing was distorted and you could not hear the words.  When some actors are miced it makes it difficult for the audience to adjust to the unamplified voices and they sound quieter than they are.  The balance improved in the second half.  There were some lovely costumes, that for Griselda was stunning, with that of the Prince and Stubble very stylish and the Dame’s as always outrageous.  I was a little disappointed with that of Snow White, she usually has a more tailored outfit.  The Minors were easily identifiable in their different coloured track suits.

The choreography was well devised by Ceri Winrow and was executed confidently throughout.  There was lots of energy and smiles and it was all in-keeping with the story.  The Ballet style numbers of the white dove dance and the bat dance, were well danced, although I did wonder if it was a good idea for them to follow each other, but as there were tap dancing bats it seemed to work.  The choreography for cleaning the stage after the water pistols was well choreographed and executed.  The Keep Fit routine, and the dance with the young Prince and Snow White were good, as was the high energy number after the Queen was banished.

The music had been well chosen with good variety, and the backing track had been well prepared.  MD, Jodie Dwight, had taught the songs well, with everyone in time with the music.  There were some nice solos and duets, with the amusing one between Dame Daisy Maisy and Diabolos Stubble.  The Minors performed their rap well, and the singing when the flowers were being laid on Snow White was quite emotional.

The production had been well cast and there were many well defined characters.  Queen Griselda, commanded the stage from her first appearance and exuded evil throughout, the audience booed her with gusto, and cheered when she was banished. Her song was well delivered.  The Mirror, who we did not see who was performing until the walk down, expressed his character through voice and facial expressions.  He was a cheeky character and enjoyed toying with the Queen and keeping her waiting.  This was a very clever piece of technology well used.  Hugh Humperdinck, son of Daisy Maisy, was a gentle character who was in love with Snow White.  He played the comic foil to Daisy Maisy well, always the underdog; he had good rapport with the audience; and showed his love for Snow White and his disappointment when she chose the Prince well.  He acted and sang well, the duet with Maisy after the fun scene with the water guns was lovely.  Snow White was confidently played as a sweet, naïve, trusting girl, who always saw the good in every one and would not have a bad word spoken about the Queen, her stepmother, and thought the old lady with the apples was sweet and harmless.  She sang and moved well.  Diabolos Stubble, Griselda’s loyal servant, tried to be as tough as his mistress but he had a much softer side.  This was a nice character, he could not really face killing Snow White, and fell for Daisy Maisy, they had a lovely duet.  Dame Daisy Maisy, owner of the flower shop and mother to Hugh, was a brash over the top character, very loud and extrovert.  She was played as a fun character full of energy flirting with the audience.  The watering the flowers scene followed by the water gun fight with Hugh was hilarious and I think they were forgiven for wetting the audience.  Prince Harry of Corbett, the young Prince Griselda has her sights on and who falls in love with Snow White, handled her first major role confidently.  He/she looked the part and moved and sang well.  He needed to be a little more assertive with Griselda, but this would come with more experience.  The Minors worked so well together, they had all developed their characters to suit their names, portrayed them well and were totally confident.  Brainy, their leader had good stage presence and sang extremely well.  What can I say about Keith?  He was the smallest of the Minors and the audience loved him, this was a fun role.  The Ensemble, was a mixture of experienced performers and newcomers who all worked well together.  They have such an important part to play in any production especially a Pantomime, they sang and moved well and reacted to the action.

Director Ceri Winrow had embraced this Pantomime, which challenged some preconceived ideas and was a bit different.  It was a good family Pantomime with lots of fun, colour and audience participation.  There were a couple of times when characters came onto the stage did their bit and then went off again with seemly no purpose.  It is always important for everyone to know the reason for doing something.  There were some lovely moments, the mirror was excellent, the scene changing efficient, there was good singing and dancing.  The audience really enjoyed their evening.  Well done everyone involved. 

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