New Victoria Theatre, Woking – until Sunday 6th January 2019.
Reviewed by Becky Doyle
5*****
Cinderella, the Fairy Godmother of all pantomimes truly brought about the magic and sparkle of Christmas for me. From the offset with its clear Strictly Come Dancing theme (Claudia and Tess two very gruesome step sisters!) I could not fault the energy or enthusiasm from all that were involved. I was fully engrossed for the entirety of the performance as were all who surrounded me.
The cast at large were ‘fab-u-laaaas darling’ each bringing their own to their roles, Phil Butler (Buttons) in particular had the crowd in stitches with his comic performance especially during an excellent scene with Paul Chuckle (Baron Hardup) which involved a conveniently placed hole and a rather wriggly cucumber. Craig Revel Horwood (Baroness Demonica Hardup) brought to his character everything and more from what you would expect having watched him over the years as that hard to please judge on Strictly, his solo dance was one that had jaws open and eyes wide!
The second half of the show saw me sat on the edge of my seat as I was covered in fairy dust and Cinders was locked in the cupboard with me shouting at the top of my lungs in response to Prince Charming “shes behind you!” Getting more and more engrossed into the story Baron Hardup breaks into song that brings the crowd to their feet and hands clapping. Oh! What fun and joy that the screams encouraged an encore!
Mums and dads were picked to go on stage and lets just say there was a lot of comedy and many a cream pie to the amusement of all, especially for the kids whos parents were being covered!
Cinderella, played by Sophie Isaacs had her glass slippers on and it was time for her to marry Prince Charming (Oliver Savile) I was blown away by their singing and the fireworks that highlighted the end of the show. It has been many years since I have gone to a Pantomime and Alan McHugh’s adaptation of Cinderella was one that was fun for kids, adults and all the family. I would highly recommend.