The Little Mermaid

Every once in a while we get the pleasure of a pantomime which is far from main stream, although everyone is familiar with the story of ‘The Little Mermaid’, it’s not one we see very often in its pantomime form.

This fable of a young mermaid who gambles her soul for the chance to fall in love, swapping her fins for feet, is not only a Disney favourite but is probably the most famous and celebrated Hans Anderson story.

Queen Hypochondria, The Dame of the piece and mother of the Principal Boy, was played by Tom Blackwell whose singing skill was on form being the strongest element of his performance, with ‘Don’t Rain On My Parade’ being his shining moment. Tom brought a good energy with a strong command throughout.  

Liz Knutton brought all the charm to the role of principal boy as Prince Stefan.

It was unfortunate and incredibly ironic given the plot that Sophie Clarke who played Marina (The Little Mermaid) was evidently suffering from throat troubles causing her to actually lose her voice and yes, this also happens to the character as part of the story too. It did mean, sadly, that we were unable to experience her full performance which is a tremendous shame for both her and us. Kudos to the cast and production team for the attempts to resolve and work around this.

Victoria Harrison was on fine form as the shows choreographer with Little Mix’s ‘Salute’ being a particular highlight on the dance front – yes, “something for the Dads” remarked one lady sat behind me but it was an extremely well executed routine all the same. Not only was Victoria in charge of the shows movement, she also took the villainess role of Ingrid and relished every moment, certainly a strong and talented allrounder!

I did sense that the usual spark / quality that comes with a Macclesfield Majestic pantomime was not as prominent as previous years, this could have simply been down to being ‘one of those performances’ that struggles to find its oomph - this particular audience was a little on the quiet side for a pantomime crowd which can certainly dampen the mood on stage, I appreciate that there was a lot of fate related occurrences going against this particular performance which can so easily drain the energy, it’s just one of those things.   

Jack Smith made a welcome return as the pantomime MD bringing with him a wholesome line up of tunes to help the narrative with the usual melange of ingredients to make up his score including latest chart tunes ‘Can’t Stop The Feeling’, some musical theatre ‘Don’t Rain On My Parade’ and a panto wouldn’t be complete without a Disney favourite… ‘I Won’t Say I’m In Love’.  

Familiar faces to the MMTG stage were present, Sid Smith was the long-suffering husband to the Queen as King Marmaduke, playing the other King of the piece – the King of the sea – Chris Simmons was an animated and invigorating Neptune and Sheila Gaskell gave her all as the ‘mad as a box of frogs’ maid to the Queen, Heidi.

This production introduces us to some new faces in principal roles and also in the ensemble too, always refreshing and shows promising potential for upcoming MMTG productions.

Ron Hall has penned some marvellous panto scripts but as is the case with most panto scripts, they’re just a base to build upon and are often required / expected to be adapted, updated and tailored to suit and showcase the cast strengths and potential.

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