The Adventures of Cinderella

A warm welcome back to the NODA family to Phoenix Productions!  They have been the last of my groups to return post covid and it is wonderful to see them back doing what they love.

The choreography was very well rehearsed and thought out with the dancers performing very well in every number.  Well done choreographer Bex Hunt and dance captain Jess Smith – a sterling job was done with the choreography and I even spotted some gymnastics.  I did enjoy the inventiveness of “Give that Wolf a banana” from Subwoofer, which was Norway’s entry in Eurovision this year closing the first act and carrying on within the storyline.

The story was a surprise, we were indeed expecting the traditional Cinderella story however with an original script written by director Richenda A. Blakelock we in fact received anything but!  Starting with the wedding, with Beth Wintle as Cinderella and Georgina Bailey as the Prince, rather than the usual happy ever after we were then presented with an inventive story of a runaway bride and her adventures in the woods while seeking affirmation of her situation from the Necklace of Pure Desire.  Beth has a lovely singing voice and it was lovely to see her performing on stage once again, and she looked especially beautiful in her wedding dress.

A traditional pantomime it certainly wasn’t, with a very different narrative, an unusual storyline of adventures in the woods, the ugly sisters Miley and Kylie played by Richenda A. Blakelock and Sarah Taylor respectively taking more of a lead than the titular characters and a large amount of full length songs woven into the exploits of Cinderella and her entourage.

A simple fixed set was used and there was a good use of props to bring the production to life, though the scene changeovers did appear to take a significant amount of time.  The Town Hall is a very difficult venue to perform in so well done to Phoenix Productions.

The minions played by Keira Ridley, Sophie Young and Matilda Smith were very cute and enthusiastic accompanying the Dark Fairy played by Jenny Hargrave.  The trainee fairy played by Millie Wake gave us a lovely rendition of “The Neverending Story” and it was a shame we didn’t see a little more of her as she was lovely. 

The voices came across clearly from all cast, speaking well and were easily audible from the audience.  Buttons played by Jess Smith was especially clear and gave the traditional pantomime engagement with the audience, keeping them engaged, and the 12 days of Christmas was cleverly done with the sausage roll crossovers and the Lidl shopping list!  Quite cleverly done.

Bex Hunt played Fairy G well, with Michelle Borrowell supporting as the step mother, Hayley O’Connor as the bar owner and Erik Harpsfire as the Wood Nymph.

The slow motion fight scene was well done and the end message seemingly being to choose your own fate.

Welcome back Phoenix Productions!  Looking forward to seeing what you do next.

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