|
|
|
|
|
Festive, feel-good fun
Cinderella
The Grand Theatre, Wolverhampton
**** THERE is no doubt about the star of this
sparkling family pantomime - Julian Clary is just superb. His laid back style and throwaway lines are a
delight as he saunters his way through as Dandini – his full title runs
to several pages . . . that’s pages, not page boys by the way, to get
into the sprit of the night. His singing is . . . well imagine a gay Lee
Marvin . . . as he talks his way through Search for a hero and
I Wanna Dance With Somebody turning them into classic comedy with
Julie and Ashley poor unfortunates plucked from the audience to assist
in the latter. Clary engages the audience, shares thoughts and
remarks, and is genuinely funny as the most innocent of remarks are
given an extra meaning by a pause, a glance or an aside. Despite
A small child behind me was laughing with
everyone else when Clary paused with an innocent glance when told his
ring was worth a fortune. As everyone else was laughing so did the
child, although I would bet the housekeeping on the real joke not being
within a million miles of his young mind. Although Clary’s dancing was limited to the odd
step here and there – his emulating Fred Astaire I suspect has never
been an ambition - he did show his time on Strictly Come Dancing
was not wasted with a more than competent spot of ballroom with a quick
step.
Not that Clary was the only outstanding
performance. Joe Tracini was a bundle of fun and energy as Buttons, with
a clever magic trick thrown in to boot. At the end in the traditional scene with children
brought on stage from the audience while costumes and sets are changed
for the grand finale, he had just the right touch, getting plenty of
laughs but not at the expense of the children, which is a skill in
itself. The audience warmed to him immediately and he
carried them with him from beginning to end. Niki Evans, a regular at the Grand, is at home as
the Fairy Godmother, with a Black Country accent to give a suitable
regional feel, while Will Richardson is a suitably handsome Prince
Charming with Alice Baker, in her final year at college, a young and
talented Cinderella. Iain Stuart Robinson provides a rather
ineffectual Baron Hardup, Cinders’ father who allows her to be turned
into little more than a slave by her potential step daughters while Ian
Gledhill adds a little gravitas as the Lord Chamberlain. The other key characters in Cinderella are the
Ugly Sisters, in this case Amanda and Alesha, played by Ben Stock and
Tony Jackson. Subtlety is not in their lexicon. They are loud, brash,
in-yer-face sisters where even the rough edges have rough edges, with
insults flying in every direction, and, as tradition demands, they have
a different and more ridiculous frock for ever scene, although to be
fair Clary outdoes them with his ever changing collection of silk and
satin finery. He makes Regency dandy Beau Brummell look
positively down at heel. The cast are supported by an energetic set of
eight villagers, four boys and four girls, who provide chorus and
dancer, while the Classic Academy of Dance supply a collection of
village children. The results is a traditional panto with a few new
jokes and modern references and the budget even stretched to a handful
of snow thrown over Niki Evans disguised as an old woman as she enters
Cinder’s kitchen, which was a lovely touch for an extra laugh.
The real effects were enough to delight children
with a flying horse and carriage, floating over the audience, enough
pyrotechnics to run a bonfire party and even a snowstorm descending upon
the audience along with a glitter bomb to end. Director Andrew Lynford has kept up a cracking
pace while the five piece band under musical director David Lane kept
things moving along nicely. Some of the set routines of panto, which are
becoming a little tired these days, were wisely left out but the spirit
of panto, that uniquely British institution, was kept alive with the
first Oh yes you are, Oh no you aren’t arriving before 10 minutes
had passed and in the Grand’s 120th anniversary season some
of the jokes were probably old enough to remember the original opening,
but isn’t that what panto is all about? This is a show with a strong feel-good factor the
cast are having a ball and so is everyone else. The audience left
laughing and smiling, adults and children beaming. There is nothing to
offend maiden aunts, or worry parents of young children, it’s just a
traditional tale, well told and fun for all ages. To 18-01-15. Roger Clarke
O9-12-14 Meanwhile, Oh yes it is **** THE colourful programme for this happy
show insists it is ‘the lavish family pantomime’ and no-one in the
packed theatre could argue with that. Fantastic costumes, great sets and even a
stunning winged horse that threatens to fly over the stalls pulling
Cinderella’s coach create a wow factor that thrills parents and grand
parents as well as the children. A clutch of beautifully designed outfits for top
star Julian Clary, playing a dandy Dandini, must have taken a large
slice of the budget, but he is not alone in the posh gear, far from it. Cinderella, played by pretty Alice Baker, looks
great when Fairy Godmother Niki Evans switches her patched up dress for
a glamorous ballgown, and then there are the Ugly Sisters – Amanda (Ben
Stock) and Alesha (Tony Jackson). They wear a range of brilliantly barmy
dresses hoping to catch the eye of the handsome Prince Charming (Will
Richardson). Some hope! Inevitably Julian Clary dominates the panto –
even telling the audience they are getting their money’s worth – though
much of his humour and innuendo passes over the heads of youngsters in
the audience. He also proves that he can’t sing, speaking his
way through That’s Amore while surrounded by a group of sexy
dancers, once again in cracking costumes. But he has such a genuinely
warm personality the customers love him. Another man who works the audience well is Joe
Tracini as Buttons, and as the panto draws to a close he has one of
those much-loved scenes when he invites four shy youngsters from the
stalls to sing with him on stage. Magical. Directed by Andrew Lynford with David Lane’s
musical direction, Cinderella runs to 18.01.15. Paul Marston
|
|
|
Contents page Lichfield Garrick Belgrade Hippodrome Grand Alex Malvern Rep RSC Town Hall Reviews A-Z Reviews by Theatre Tweet |
|
|
|
being
funny, at times hilariously so, it is so far above the heads of
children, and indeed some adults, as to be inoffensive and harmless fun
in a family panto. 