Darlington Hippodrome – until Sunday 31 December 2023
5*****
The “Fairest Panto in all the Land” has arrived at the Hippodrome in Darlington. And there were no bad apples in this show.
Carrying on with the long tradition and pedigree of panto in Darlington, the latest offering is packed full of brilliant costumes, wonderful dancing and lots of silliness for both kids and adults alike.
The Prince, Gareth Gates, was most charming, impressing with his muscles and his outstanding vocals. Snow White, Marina Lawrence-Mahrra, has a beautiful singing voice, beautiful and controlled, and it is a shame she doesn’t get more singing to do in this production.
Jenny Ryan’s Queen Dragonella was suitably evil, but it was disappointing that she only had one song, when we know she has a beautiful singing voice. However her character made us boo every time she entered the stage.
Comic relief comes in the form of Muddles, Josh Benson, who entertained us all with his constant energy, his clever juggling and his massive array of jokes. Benson was very much the star of the show. There was plenty of silliness and no small amount of double entendres.
Glamour from Mrs Nellie Nightnurse (Jamie Jones, who was woefully underused and could definitely do with more stage time) with some stunning and surreal costumes. The “Magnificent Seven” (Jonny Weston, Eva-Theresa Chkarian, Will Keeler, James Lowrie, JB Maya, Logan McQuillan and Charlotte Northover) were normal sized actors shuffling on their knees which can’t be comfortable and may explain why their appearances were few and far between.
With a fine ensemble of dancers (India Chadwick, Robert Donnelly, Jay Jobarteh, Annis Rallis, Fenella Speed and Harley Stephen) this is full of all the traditional panto staples but also with some fabulous effects.
As one would expect, the production values are very high, so it’s important to mention the fabulous technical crew because without them it would be very quiet and very dark on stage. The Tech Crew rarely get thanked but technical theatre is as much an art form as the singing and dancing and the live band (Tim Hammond, Tim Farmer, Peter Brent and Bob Broad) were excellent too. Crossroads Pantomimes manage to fit so much into this show it’s a feat of theatrical magic itself – there are all the elements you could hope for in a panto and so much more. Guaranteed to leave you with a huge grin on your face.