Snow White and the Seven Dwarves

It is panto time again in the North East and kicking off the season with great style and gusto is once again Aurora Productions with the classic Snow White and the Seven Dwarves. Director Hannah, Musical Director Hugh and the Choreography team have pulled out all the stops and filled the show with great characters, songs and step perfect energetic dance routines from the opening number Jesse J’s “Domino” to the rousing “One Night Only” finale. Kenna Johnston, in her first lead role for the company, was a perfect Snow White with a superb voice shown to it’s best in her solo “I Know I Have a Heart” and her scenes with the Dwarves were a joy. Ciara Adams as her love interest Prince Sven may have lacked stature – a running joke throughout – but certainly made up for it with excellent stage presence and the two made a delightful pairing. Taking on the heavy lifting in the comedy stakes again this year were Lewis Moggach as the over the top Dame Dolly and Sarah Tassell as her hapless son Herbie. Dame Dolly’s sexy routine to “Shout Out to My Ex” with the ensemble was almost a show stopper! Herbie had his big moment in Act Two when he rode to everyone’s rescue from the Queen’s revenge making his entrance on a full sized model of a white steed and knocking her out with his jousting spear – to loud cheers from all in the hall! Katherine Taylor as Queen Narcissia was the epitome of evil as she used every trick she knew to rid her of Snow White and retain her title of “Fairest in the Land”. Doing her best to counter her - and aid Prince Sven in his quest to woo Snow White – was Elaine Bunce’s Fairy Flora played in true panto rhyming speak style complete with shimmering gown and glittering magic wand. Adding to the magic was June Cranna in a cameo appearance as The Magic Mirror. The seven Dwarves played by adults a la Shrek’s Lord Farquard – Smiley (Martin Bell), Scruffy (Emilia Branston), Sassy (Lily Chaplin), Stupit (Keira Florence), Sulky (Louise Morrison), Sweetie (Amelia Osborne) and led by Specs (James Watt) were superb and their song and dance routine with Snow White to “Life’s a Happy Song” was amazing. I applaud them for their stamina as they also appeared as singers and dancers in the ensemble numbers! The costumes were colourful and represented the characters perfectly. The larger than life sets too were colourful and appropriate aided by excellent lighting. Congratulations everyone on a joyful evening’s entertainment.

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