Lyric Hammersmith Theatre – until 6th January 2024
Reviewed by Fozia Munshi-Nicholson
5*****
A truly spectacular take on an old family favourite. I took my children aged 4-20! And they all without exception loved the performance.
The classic fairy tale is given a modern twist and is set in Shepherds Bush. Tilly La Belle Yengo is our feisty Cinders, she does the household chores and runs her own (slightly odd) business, with only a Gerbil as a best friend. Tilly’s Cinders was very likeable she clearly had a ball (see what I did there) playing the part, she and Damien James’s somewhat hapless Prince Henry had a sweet chemistry together.
However, In all shows, there is always one star who steals the show, and this one is no different, Emmanuel Akwafo’s Lady Jelly Bottom did just that, without giving too much away by the end we decided Lady Jelly Bottom was our second favourite, Cinderella being the clear favourite (well it is her show). The ugly sisters played by Charlie Cameron as Muffy and Meghan Treadway as Gusset were both hilarious as the mean (not so) ugly sisters, their dance moves were truly something to behold.
The show is skilfully performed with some surprising twists, it kept us rivetted to our seats, the poor put upon set director deserves a mention too (you need to see the show to find out why), although they are not in the programme.
Jodie Jacobs fairy godmother is great fun, and her magic totally surpasses the conventional pumpkin into a carriage trope.
The show was fresh and fun, and the cast clearly thoroughly enjoyed themselves sweeping us all along with them in the riotous retelling of our favourite fairy tale. There were gags for older audiences, and younger audience members were kept enthralled by the story unfolding in front of them too, with some great renditions of favourite songs along the way, Lady Jelly Bottoms rendition of Cher’s ‘If I could turn back time’ did not leave a dry eye in the house, tears of laughter that is.
This is a panto, but it’s very different from the usual, although it has all the ingredients of a classic panto, it’s style and performance is new and fresh and thoroughly engaging.
After much discussion my two youngest aged six and four agreed this Cinderella show was a hundred stars. I can’t say I disagree.