Director: Will Brenton
Starring: Justin Fletcher, Zoe Salmon, Hal Cruttenden, Liam Tamne, Dave Lynn, Jason Sutton, Zoe Curlett and Tim Hudson
Synopsis: A magical family show where Prince Charming meets his beautiful Princess with the help of Buttons and the Fairy Godmother.
This is an evening full of excitement and expectation. As you enter the auditorium, the high hopes of this young audience are tangible and high voices of children asking parents where’s the princess? who is the prince? when will it start? reach a crescendo; only becoming quieter when the voice of BBC’s Mr Tumble; otherwise know as Justin Fletcher, is heard announcing the start of the performance. The countdown to this much loved children’s fairytale begins.
Buttons effortlessly works the audience, carrying the younger members along with him as deals with the shouts out of ‘Justin’ and ‘Mr Tumble’ names by whom he is better known. The audience were fully involved with Buttons from the moment he walked on stage with their eager responses and ready laughter. Buttons worked brilliantly with the comical Prince Charming’s aide Dandini played by Hal Cruttenden who gave a memorable performance. Liam Tamne is a perfect Prince Charming who very ably sings and dances his way through successfully through the show, much to the delight the teenage girls who were sat nearby. Tim Hudson ably played Baron Hardup, but his role was probably not reflective of his talent.
The Ugly Sisters – Miley and Tulisa played by Dave Lynn and Jason Sutton respectively, are fabulously awful with innuendo, gross facial expressions and outlandish costumes. The sisters more than fulfilled all the expectations one has of pantomime dames. Their slapstick scene with Buttons and the ghost had the audience fully involved with their ‘Oh yes it is’ and ‘He’s behind yous.’
Zoe Salmon who was a presenter with Blue Peter, gave the perfect image as Cinderella, for she is as pretty as a princess with her long blonde hair and happy smile but sadly her lack of singing skills let her down. Cinderella’s outfits are transformed from rags to ball gowns by the excellent Fairy Godmother played by Zoe Curlett; whose outstanding voice effortlessly helps the show go on its festive way. She is without doubt the star of the show.
The most memorable scene of the show is Cinderella going to the Ball. The snow falling on to the sparking ice sleigh which was pulled along by white Shetland ponies were truly magical and evoked every child’s dream of fairyland and Christmas. This is the scene you remember as you leave the theatre.
This production is impressive but disappointingly technically less than professional as there were some microphone issues. The pantomime is just not quite polished enough to compete with the sparkle of Cinderella’s glass slipper but nevertheless it left me in the mood for a thoroughly enchanted Christmas.
Cinderella is running at the New Victoria Theatre in Woking until 5th January, 2014.
Visit atgtickets.com to book tickets
