The Glass Slipper

For more than 70 years, Kays Theatre Group has been entertaining audiences in Worcester, from its humble beginnings with talent contests, to a seasonal crowd pleaser, particularly known for its annual pantomime. This year’s offering ‘The Glass Slipper’ had been especially and cleverly written as a sequel to the traditional story of ‘Cinderella’, opening at the actual wedding of the Prince and his bride.

But before that, the playful Buttons was already acquainting himself with the audience particularly the youngsters with great fun. Aadil Din projected a character full of natural and enormous energy throughout and a smile that reached everyone (the distribution of chocolate buttons may also have helped). The opening scene was a glorious picture, in both setting and cast costumes and on conclusion of the ceremony, the company provided a great medley of Abba and Motown musical numbers, with Laura Fullelove singing ‘Dancing in the Street’ and some fabulous looking showgirls from the Harlequin Stage School. The occasion would not be complete without a brief appearance of Mr Pantomime himself, Pat Milton, who founded the group over 70 years ago.

The bride and groom were Ella played beautifully by Lottie Heels and Prince Eugene played with great panache by the dashing Charlie Green. His ‘From Now On’ from the Greatest Showman was uplifting, but both had great voices and when singing together were most impressive.

Of course, there has to be a baddie and Grizelda Hardup was superbly played by Joanna Hughes, who was determined to steal the slipper and win over Eugene. Grizelda’s two daughters Thisbe (Tam Weir)  and Clorinda (Rob Brown) were a great pairing as the ‘ugly sisters’ and worked well together in all their action.

During a freeze we met her rival Fairy G; a sparkling performance by Barry North who took every opportunity to connect with the audience ‘stand up’ style with his usual great comedy timing. No chance was missed either of tales of working with Julie Andrews, Judy Dench and Kylie amongst others, which was always amusing.

Grizelda had to have two side-kicks to help with her endeavours, which turned out to be two village idiots in the form of Cornelius Coddiwomple and Cordelia Coddiwomple. Tony and Julie Fisher held the stage with their slapstick style of comedy which was well received and they actually managed to steal the slipper! Meanwhile 14 of the young Harlequin dancers performed an endearing dance as trolls and then followed a number by the chorus ladies cleaning the Palace kitchen whilst the work- shy sisters took it easy!

I liked Buttons’ number with Ella ‘You’ve got to giggle’ which also exercised the audience chuckle muscles and the young dancers returned with a lovely number from ‘The Stickman’.  Act one concluded with Moonbeam (Maria Stafford) and Snowflake (Laura Fullelove) as Unicorns, pulling a magical carriage on stage and Ella sang a beautiful number ‘I Believe in Miracles’ with the senior dancers.

Other characters that made a great contribution were the Viking, Ivor Crumpledbum played with an imposing presence by Mark Bailey and King Oswald (Matt Swatton) whose birthday was to be celebrated and Queen Esmerelda (Susan Sedgley). Their number ‘Chu-Chi Face’ was a delight. No panto would be complete without the ghost scene, but in this production a knight in armour took over, whilst the King, Queen, sisters Thisbe and Clorinda sang ‘Always look on the Bright Side of Life’! The slippers changed hands several times but when finally restored to Ella, were picked out in effective lighting.

As expected of KTG, the final scene in the Palace Ballroom was stunning. The set, costumes, lighting band and sound were high class and directors Paula Dymock and Rachel Sedgley with the company, are to be congratulated on an excellent evening’s entertainment.

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