Snow White & the Seven Dwarfs

Celebrating ninety years of creating shows for the community, SNADS pulled out all the stops for ‘Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs’.  This was a great community effort involving all ages, with an air of enjoyment and togetherness.  With a nod to contemporary humour and some juicy double-entendres, this was a show for everyone to enjoy.

An excellent live band for panto is a bonus: providing snazzy, upbeat tunes, from rock’n’roll to ballads and lullabies, along with percussive accompaniments to the action, they were an integral part of the show.

Young dancers had fun with the music, sometimes going freestyle, always enjoyable to watch, with a strong line-up of well-organised Junior Chorus to move the action forward. The Dwarfs engaged with the music and committed themselves fully to singing and dancing as they worked busily at the Mine.  There was an attractive tableau of the Fairy and children and good ‘freeze’ poses from the Company.

Characters were colourful and jolly, with some novel twists: Fairy Fortune was bright, with an unusual tone – was she mocking?  Her duet with the Princess was pretty, clear and cool, well-suited to the winter scenery of the Act One Finale. Queen Avarice was most dangerous when she cackled her evil laugh.  The sulky Mirror’s insolence was increasingly evident; his air-guitar solo won him a round of applause from the audience.  Cheery Dame Edna Bucket was a little under-employed by the script, but we appreciated the mirror sequence and the Edina Bucket joke.  Chuckles the Jester was jolly in looks and personality, delivering all lines clearly, with expression and gusto.  Cheeky Scribbles the Scribe and sober Justice Quill made a strong comedy duo; their dance number with the four ladies was full of energy and bags of fun.  Prince Ferdinand delivered lines clearly and emphatically, and with Snow White built a good-humoured and sociable on-stage relationship.  Snow White’s singing was a highlight of the show, particularly the clear and expressive lullaby.  The Dwarfs spoke out well, had very clear, appealing, individual characters and bags of energy.  Smiley had a delightful skipping gait, which made an event of crossing the stage.  Brainy was expressive in every way, never losing the opportunity to use voice, face or physical expression.  Dozy and Brainy’s hammer gag was very well done.  Slurp was an interesting character, always making contact with the audience and making the most of dragging one leg.  Chorus characters spoke out well and diction was clear throughout the show.

Costumes were very attractive in style and colour throughout:  Chuckles was very bright in his jester outfit, marotte and curly shoes; Quill was impressive in his rich costume and silvery wig;  Scribbles was clearly better-paid than the other peasants; the Prince wore traditional thigh boots; Spirits and Woodland Creatures in good animal costumes performed cartwheels, twirls and splits as they danced in a misty forest; the Queen looked the part throughout, her spiky crown well-suited to her character; in Act Two all costumes became more rich in colour and sparkled or shone.  With everyone dressed in red and gold, the well-organised walk down was extra-colourful.

The technical team produced some very good visual effects.  Suits of armour and a silver-clad table enhanced the Palace, the fold-out dwarfs’ cottage looked cosy and was well-operated; a stonework gobo added interest to plain flats.  Lighted lanterns at the Mine added atmosphere.  White and silver trees, red and white toadstools and a clear blue backdrop with break-up gobo made a very attractive wintry scene; spiky, thorny shadows threatened as the forest grew around the Palace.  The flash for the Fairy was magically sparkly; the Company were nicely lit as statues; the Queen appeared more sinister when lit from below, the effect increased by a red light for spell-casting.

Full of music, energy, colour and traditional gags, this was a show for today’s community and a fitting start to SNADS’ 90th Birthday Year.  Congratulations.

 

 

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