Swan Princess - The Panto

It was lovely to attend a Panto I had never seen before. The 'Swan Princess' is the story of 'Swan Lake', told very much as a traditional-style pantomime, but with the opportunity to add plenty of ballet. The Showtime Academy Dancers provided the ballet aspect of the show and were a very welcome addition to the many familiar faces in this company. The opening ballet sequence of 'Swan Lake' was well performed, with each dancer obviously enjoying herself. It's always good to see smiling faces on stage! It also made for an unusual opening sequence.
The ballet gave way to the more traditional prologue, delivered by the 'baddie', the Sorceress, and the 'goodie', Fairy Truelove. The enchantment of Odelle was explained and the story was set.
The opening chorus number, 'Get Happy' was performed enthusiastically by a small chorus. It was lovely to see such varied ages in the chorus; proof that pantomime really does appeal to all!  Here and throughout, taped music was used, and this generally worked well, although at times there was a slight delay between the cue lines and the start of the music.
Other principal characters were introduced including the comedy character of Chester the Jester, who was largely responsible for warming up the audience by way of some very corny jokes and a running gag involving a bean stalk which cleverly grew and collapsed on cue. We were also introduced to Griselda, the very colourful and likeable dame; the henpecked King and his over-bearing Queen; Prince Siegfried, his friend Otto, and the principal girl Odette.
There was a lively and messy slapstick kitchen scene involving Griselda and Chester and a clever moving/exploding oven. The explosion of the oven could perhaps have been more effective if a little more time had been given before the entrance of chorus members to clear the set.
The dance numbers were a feature of this show, with a lively tap number involving a fun teapot and teacups, and a very impressive rendition of 'The Ugly Duckling' which was sung well by three of the dancers. The star of the number however, was undoubtedly the smallest and youngest cast member, who managed to charmingly upstage everyone at this point, causing great amusement in the audience.
The costumes were a real feature this year. We have come to expect some beautiful Dame's outfits at this panto, and we were not disappointed. Also this year there were some exceptional other costumes, including the ducklings, the King and Queen's lovely cloaks and crowns, Chester's colourful (and 'jingly') suit, and the quite superb finale costumes in purple and silver.
On stage scenery was minimal, but there were some well painted backcloths. Lighting was simple, and the pyrotechnics were effective, especially the one used to cover the transformation sequence of Odette to Odile.

I am a fan of traditional panto, so it was good to see inclusions such as the bear gag and the 'oh yes he is/isn't' etc. There were times when the pace dropped and this could have been improved by faster and more energetic entrances: in pantomime the characters really need to 'burst' onto the stage at every opportunity.

Chorus choreography was quite simple but effective, and the finale number 'Rhythm of Life' was well staged and performed with great discipline and energy, providing a fitting finale.

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