snow white

Snow White & The Seven Dwarfs

Malvern Theatres

****

Pantomime season has truly arrived! Snow White and her handsome prince survive the evil machinations of the wicked queen with the help of the wonderful dwarfs in the forest.

This action-packed production makes a thumping impact on the senses in a brilliant variety of colours and sounds.

Mark James returns this Christmas as the lovable and cuddly Muddles and threatens to steal the show with his brilliant, teasing and comic rapport with the whole age range in the audience. His mischievous but loyal role amuses and endears him to us all.

If he didn’t steal the show entirely, it is because he is surrounded by many other excellent performances. The young prince is brilliantly portrayed by Aidan Banyard with his elegant height and presence. He has a great voice, long curly locks and transcends the potential flatness of the role.

Francesca McKean is a strong Snow White; likewise she has a very good voice, looks great and provides the necessary charm without being unduly corny.

The wicked queen (Su Pollard) is nasty, though not very sinister. Philip Meeks is a playful and entertaining Dolly, mother to Muddles.

The dwarfs form an excellent team when they enter the scene in Act One . They are varied, playful and very endearing and their comic timing and delivery is excellent.

This core team are further enriched by the dancing villagers, and the local young dancers from the Cecilia Hall Dance Centre, who all add lots of energy and life to the songs and performance generally.

The visual impact of the show owes much to the bright, brilliant and varied costume design. The principals appear in very different outfits at different stages of the show, but the teams of dwarfs, dancers and villagers have beautifully coordinated costumes that come to a wonderful climax at the end in the wedding scene. This of course is powerfully linked into the set design and colours which are similarly fast-changing and exhilarating.

This is a high energy, high impact family show with a few superfluous elements of coarse humour which would be better omitted in a family show. The rendering of the 12 Days of Christmas was hilarious chaos, unrelated to the central plot, but epitomising the festive humour and liveliness of the evening. The first night launched the run brilliantly and it runs into the New Year ending on 6 January.

Tim Crow

13-12-18 

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