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Cinders has a ball at the Theatre Royal
If there's a bigger and better panto in the whole of the country than the Theatre Royal's Cinderella I'll eat Dame Baroness Rita's monstrous Angel of the North hat.
You'd think there'd be more chance of the Ugly Sisters getting their bulbous feet in a Cinderella's delicate glass slipper than this cast squeezing so much fun and razzamatazz into just two hours on stage.
Yet somehow they do it … and they do it bigger and better than ever before.
Click here to go to Theatre Royal website
This is the fifth time the theatre has played host to the festive Danny and Clive-led extravaganza and they are breaking all previous box-office panto records for the North East.
It's easy to see why? From the moment the Fairy Godmother floats out above the audience with no strings attached to set the scene of Cinderella's story the magic begins and does not let up.
The fantastic costumes, colourful sets and uplifting songs are a given, but it's the many extras that provide the wow factors.
Last year it was a 3D movie backdrop and madcap robot, this time there's a flying horse and carriage that takes Cinders to the ball, as well as an animatronic raven on stage plus an appearance by, "ah yes", the Churchill nodding dog.
Holding all the strands of this production together and providing laughs by the barrel-load is the charismatic Danny Adams as Buttons.
He's my nine-year-old son's hero, but has the likeability factor for both young and old alike. Think Lee Evans and Norman Wisdom and you're half-way there.
He's got the catchphrase ("Acci-Duuunt" since you ask), the infectious giggle, physical humour and quick-fire one-liners that keep the laughs rolling down the aisles.
With his straightman partner Clive Webb as the Baron, the pair take the Cinderella panto outside its traditional boundaries with some great set-piece moments including an exploding piano and a hilarious wallpaper paste mess-fest straight out of the Max Sennett stable of slapstick comedy.
There are also magic routines of the highest order and the pair even light up the evening with some real fire-eating on stage.
The production is also helped along by some excellent supporting roles to be found in the cast. Baroness Rita with her fantastic costumes (her Angel of the North hat being just one of a myriad of exotic apparel) is suitably overblown by Chris Hayward; the Ugly sisters Nelly and Smelly, played by Steve Arnott and Phil Corbitt, roar through their lines with gusto; while Roxanne Pallett is a charming Cinderella. Donna Steele is a quirky Fairy Godmother, while Scooch star David Ducasse as Dandini and Matt Rawle as Prince Charming make as much of an impression as their limited roles allow.
But at the end of the day it's the madcap Danny Adams who raises what would be a very good panto into a truly memorable theatrical event. For me, the real wonder of Christmas is how this dynamic showman hasn't achieved the wider recognition his talent truly deserves.
A truly magical night's entertainment.
Richard Ord
Cinderella runs at the Theatre Royal, Newcastle, until January 16. (Box office: 08448 112121)
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Friday 10 February 2012
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