Jack & The Beanstalk, Bath

This year, my 8th season with UK Productions, marks my 16th consecutive Christmas playing Dame, and I'm really excited to be playing The Theatre Royal, Bath;
though it is slightly daunting to be stepping into the boots of Chris Harris,
who directed and played Dame there for so many years.
Chris was my inspiration to play Dame; I was was Captain's Mate with him in my first panto,
Dick Whittington, at The Theatre Royal Plymouth, way back in 1987
(starring Anita Harris, Bernard Cribbins, Andrew Sachs and Glyn Owen).
It was such fun doing classic routines with Chris and Bernard - especially A Little Bit of Heaven, and an acrobatic act with Chris on invisible flying wires - I learnt so much from them both.

I'm also looking forward to being back with some old friends: lovely Sarah Day (Princess Jill),

who I last worked with in Sleeping Beauty at The Anvil in Basingstoke in 2010 - she's choreographing the show too, which is great, because she's very, very patient;

 the delightful David Alcock (playing King) - we were both in Jack & The Beanstalk

in New Brighton a couple of years ago; 

David Barrett (Jack), who I was with in Aladdin in Malvern in 2008 - Great voice!

and Director, Michael Gattrell, who I've known for years but never actually worked with.

 And if that wasn't enough there's  there's all the new friends to make!

Jon Monie, who I've seen in previous Bath Pantos - Really funny!

the irrepressible Katy Ashworth; and, of course,

Nigel Havers (who I'm really looking forward to flirting with!)

 

ALTBLACKPOOL Review

Pantomime season is upon us once again…Oh yes it is. This year’s offering from The Grand Theatre is the ever popular tale of Sleeping Beauty. Featuring a cast of well-known faces, the show opened on Friday to a packed auditorium...

Nurse Nelly (Nick Wilton) treated us to her version of George Formby classic, Auntie Maggie’s Special Home Made Remedy. Slapstick and mayhem followed as she and Billy (Steve Royle) attempted to prepare food for the party. Watch out for the echo scene, it’s really funny..

Space limitations have made it impossible to list the many hilarious antics of Silly Billy and Nurse Nelly interspersing this fairy-tale love story. A theme of ‘Everything Is Awesome’ ran through the show and the acting, singing and dancing certainly were. Tickets will make a wonderful pre or post Christmas treat for the young and the young at heart.

Scarlett Clegg.     http://www.altblackpool.co.uk/review-sleeping-beauty

What's On Stage Review

Sleeping Beauty (Grand Theatre, Blackpool)

A good panto should impress the whole whole family. 

The Grand's Sleeping Beauty does exactly that, says Sandra Mangan. 

6 Dec 2014 • Blackpool

The department stores have been playing festive songs for weeks now and you're probably already sick of mince pies, but it isn't really Christmas until the panto season begins.
It has truly arrived now, as Sleeping Beauty has arrives at the Grand in Blackpool – oh yes it does – and a packed audience really got into the spirit of things - the night I attended - booing, cheering and yelling ‘Hello Billy' in all the right places.
Fans of traditional pantomime will find much that's familiar here – including some corny jokes that even Christmas Cracker makers would probably turn down – but that's all part of the fun. And don't forget, a large proportion of the audience is seeing a live stage show for the first time, so everything is magical to them.
These theatre newbies lap it up, if the noise levels are anything to go by. Sure, we could hear the distant rustle of sweet wrappers and even a crying baby close by, but panto is a form to be savoured, whatever your age.
The producers pulled out all the stops in the musical numbers and ran the gamut of generations in the process. We had Everything is Awesome from The Lego Movie for the young 'uns, a pastiche of Auntie Maggie's "Remedy", made famous by George Formby, for the oldies, and a cast performance of Happy for everyone.
Plot innovations included an appearance by a full-sized Tardis and even a larger than life projected, fire-eating dragon – and that same projection technique was employed to dazzling effect when the handsome Prince Philip was whisked forward 100 years to kiss his sleeping Princess Rose.
But all the technological trickery in the world is useless if the cast isn't up to the task in hand. Thankfully the team here do a grand job, with Hayley Kay as Fairy Snowflake and Steve Royle as Silly Billy giving the standout performances of the night.
The sumptuously costumed Jennifer Ellison is booed to the rafters as Caraboose and appears to relish it – although I was a little disappointed that this star of West End musicals wasn't given more chances to show off her vocal talents skills.
Phoebe Lewis and Lewis Bradley are a heartwarming Princess and Prince, and Michael Chance as the King and Nick Wilton as Nurse Nelly offer sterling support – but a special mention must go out for the lovely little dancers from the locally-based Barbara Jackson Theatre Arts Centre, who display a stage presence and skill way beyond their years.
There was, surprisingly, no principal boy and I never once heard ‘he's behind you!', but the excited chatter from the young theatregoers as they left the theatre was enough to warm even Scrooge's heart. On this showing, panto is alive and well – and flourishing.

Sleeping Beauty Blackpool

Thrilled to be back for my 7th season with UK Productions (my 15th consecutive Christmas playing Dame). This year I'm playing Nurse Nelly in Sleeping Beauty at the Blackpool Grand - a wonderful Matcham theatre. It's great working with local legend Steve Royle, who is playing Silly Billy (his 12th panto at the Grand), and to be back with lovely Michael Chance, playing the King, who I was with in Sleeping Beauty in Basingstoke in 2010. It's a terrific company this year and Jennifer, Lewis, Hayley and Phoebe are all great fun too.

Blackpool Grand Website

Review 3 - Liverpool Post

December 19, 2013
Review by Philip Key

There's something comforting about traditional pantomimes with their familiar stories, familiar characters and familiar jokes.

What really matters is how well they are done and this production at New Brighton is done very well.

The cast is excellent, the costumes just fine and the settings are typically storybook. And for those who like music with their stories, there is a lot, barely a moment passing without a song, a dance, or both.

Writer Andrew Ryan provided the basic script of village lad selling the family cow for a bag of beans, growing a giant beanstalk and climbing it to defeat the evil giant in Cloudland but director Scott Ritchie says both he and his cast added their own topical elements.

That includes references to the recent New Brighton flood ("Morrisons is awash with bargains - there is a sale, a rowing boat..."). Fleshcreep calling the kids "plebs" and numerous name checks for places like  Caldy, Rock Ferry and Seacombe.

The show is very much a team effort with everyone getting a chance to shine including Liverpool singer Sonia, now something of a panto veteran, playing the Vegetable Fairy, a fairy who keeps forgetting which panto she is in.

Bubbling with high spirits, she also gets to sing her number one hit You'll never Stop Me From Loving You.

Wirral-born television children's  presenter Emma Nowell is a perfect princess, a beautiful blonde with a lovely singing voice while fellow kids' TV presenter Ed Petrie is Jack, her love interest and unlikely hero.

There is plenty of comedy with a red-nosed Nick Wilton as the ample Dame Trott bustling all over the stage, a likeable King from David Alcock and Mark James full of non-stop fun as Simple Simon. He often pops up with a daft invention including a DVD recorder ( a DVD stuck on a musical recorder) and delivers some of the old gags with aplomb ("It may be rubbish, but at least it's British rubbish").

Liverpool actor Mark Moraghan bellows to great effect as the evil Fleshcreep while the giant (Jon Kindon) is, well, gigantic.

Traditional elements include a ghost scene ("It's behind you!"), cream pies in the face, a pantomime cow and lots of lively dance scenes with a host of dancers, mostly from local dance and theatre schools.

A three-piece band under Steve Allan Jones delivers great music and in a nice touch they are joined at one stage by numerous animal puppets.

Overall this is a happy experience, indeed the essence of what pantomime is all about.

Review 2 - Liverpool Echo

December 19, 2013
Catherine Jones gets festive at an animated panto

JACK AND THE BEANSTALK at Floral Pavilion

You don't see many panto animals on parade these days. So the arrival of the eyelash-batting Daisy the cow in the midst of the Jack and the Beanstalk mayhem is a retro delight.

Daisy dances, Daisy runs rings around her owners the Trotts, and Daisy emotes soulfully when  she’s packed off to market to help pay the rent.

The production team at the Floral Pavilion, have worked hard on creating the visuals which make the fantastical fairytale real for its young audience.

There’s a proper giant, who has  giant furniture, and a beanstalk that rises magically from the ground and up into the gods.

At the centre of the theatricals is the story, such as it is, of farm boy Jack  (Childrens TV favourite Ed Petrie) and his battle against the fe-fi-fo-fumming giant to rescue the beautiful princess (Emma Nowell) and win her hand in marriage.

Nick Wilton’s colourful Dame Trott, pitched somewhere  between Les Dawson and Ken Dodd delivers mildly blue innuendo with a twinkle,  and Simple Simon, played by the energetic Mark James certainly knows well how to work a young audience.

Sonia too delivers a couple of rousing songs, and a jolly performance as the forgetful fairy, while Child Catcher-esque Mark Moraghan gets the best lines of all as the evil Fleshcreep, threatening to “come down there and paint all your Smarties the same colour.”

The big numbers are belted out with conviction – one involving a surprise and entertaining cameo from a gang of puppets.

As with most pantos, there’s a surfeit of musical numbers. Still, although every show on Merseyside seems to have featured Maroon 5 this season, at least here it’s Daisy the cow who MOOS Like Jagger.

Review - Wirral Globe

December 18, 2013

Our reviewer Peter Grant says the Floral's production is one of the strongest traditional pantos in the Merseyside area.

www.wirralglobe.co.uk

This is one of the strongest traditional pantos in the Merseyside area.

A colourful stage welcomes the audience with some sparkling routines; song and dance numbers and all from star performers who relay the gags with relish.

Pop star Sonia is faultless as the vegetable fairy who has a cute way of forgetting what panto she is actually in. Very funny idea threaded throughout.

She has always been able to switch from drama to musicals with ease.

Mark Moraghan, stage, tv and film star is the hilariously hiss-able Fleshcreep.

His asides to the audience come from a master craftsman.

Mark James, best known for reaching the finals of Britain's Got Talent as Simple Simon is simply perfect.

Aided by multi-talented Nick Wilton of EastEnders fame as Dame Trott, this daft duo must lose a lot of weight during this run due to the multi-layered costumes and all that running around on stage.

Jack is in the capable hands of popular CBBC presenter Ed Petrie - he is the dashing hero...isn't that right, boys and girls...and he woos our lovely princess, courtesy of Hi-5s Emma Nowell, we know we will be going to the wedding ball.

It's a nicely played romance in this top notch, family festive offering.

Numerous villagers make you feel you have stepped into a giant Christmas card.

And now for the giant - there is a magical entrance from a marvellous Mr Big who leaves children open-mouthed in amazement.

I was pretty shocked myself but I still wanted him to get his comeuppance ( I am still a kid at 55).

The four-piece orchestra are superb and keep the tempo rocking along.

Solo singers and ensemble pieces are toe-tappers of the first order.

Listen to Your heart , Monster Mash and the classic Higher and Higher are feel-good winners.

The script flows throughout so all credit to the excellent production team. You know who you are...look behind you for applause.

Oh, there is one other star who milks the story for all it's worth...

Daisy the Cow.

I was feeling sad when she was sold for a bag of beans. Pull the udder one, I hear you say.

There's also a silly but enjoyable ghostie sequence.

This is a wonderful fairy tale of mayhem and fun - a real collective success story for every single person involved.

When you hear the kids boo, laugh and clap you know that its done the job to perfection.

Globe Verdict: Terrifically traditional. 9/10

The show runs until January 5 and tickets from the box office at www.floralpavilion.com or 0151 666 0000.