The 12 Days of Christmas

Since I have never encountered this pantomime before, I was intrigued to see the character line-up. The colourful set including a wall of advent boxes which were protected by the delightful Fairy Queen of Christmas. In magical panto fashion she orchestrated where everyone needed to go to find the keys. Of course the dreaded Schnitzel, foiler of Christmas, did everything in her power to steal and hide the keys at various international locations. Schnitzel played a good role and kept the audience busy booing and hissing. Copacabana was a real highlight. Colourful, lively and well sung by all. The conga around the stage while Gertie sang, gave us an opening snippet of how a Dame can take command of the stage at every opportunity, adorned with numerous outrageous costumes. How many? I wish I'd counted! The London sequence, with busy street scene, was excellent. Klampit (with great accent) and Stampit shone throughout the show, no matter what scene they interrupted and the excellent dance sequence in Consider Yourself gave a typical cockney feel to the proceedings. The Paris  location featured Izzy and dancers in 'Thank Heaven for Little Girls', but the superb energetic Can Can...by the girls AND the Braw Lass won the finale applause! The men's can can!! (apart from Stuart the dancer), could only be awarded a star for effort...but hilarious all the same! I doubt that any Panto this year will escape the 'Frozen' mania so that's where Land Of Ice And Snow fitted the bill. Without doubt  'Let it Go' was a huge hit and warranted a huge cheer. The youngsters did a lovely presentation of 'Frosty the Snowman' where a young Josh has to be commended for his dancing. The iconic role of leading boy, Prince Rupert and the  lovely Suzie were perfectly matched as they skilfully won the audience applause for 'Love is an Open Door', again from Frozen. The Egyptian  scene created mayhem and screaming at the moving pots and mummies. Great fun! The 'Old Bazaar in Cairo' trio worked really well, as did the outrageously funny audience participation of Twelve Days of Christmas. We were all on our feet for 5! On a brief trip to Ireland we appreciated the quirky dance and ditty to 'Bigger Isn't Better' but also witnessed some fabulous Irish dancing from the girls. In time honoured  fashion the finale was larger than life, to give all good Christmas Cheer to one and all. Well Done and Happy Christmas!

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