Crossroads Pantomimes, writer Alan McHugh, director Gary Wilmot and a little orange fox called Basil bring a little touch of glamour to Cinderella this year.
It’s winter in Richmond. At Hardup Hall sisters Hernia (Jak Allen Anderson) and Verruca (Stephen Guarino in his panto debut) are making life hard for their neglected stepsister Cinderella (Hope Dawe).
Cinders wants to become a ‘royal advisor’, or a princess. It isn’t clear. Anyway, there’s a ball, and her friend Buttons (Charlie Stemp) will have to be quick if he wants to make her happy.
Prince Charming (Tom Major) and Dandini (Michael Lin) – when did these stop being played by women in the old tradition? – swap roles for a snap.
A fairy godmother (Helen George) allows some dreams to come true, and a couple of very cute ponies to grace the stage. Glass slippers, pumpkin, stroke of midnight – all present and correct.
This leaves Basil Brush as ‘Baron Basil’ and he is an absolute riot, whether mangling tongue twisters, nearly dropping a f bomb, and noting with surprise from his box “there’s a bloke down here!”.
Now celebrating 63 years in the business, Basil continues to delight generations and is an inspired addition to the Cinderella cast. He’s never been ‘just a puppet’ and steals his scenes (even with a Six Seven).
Stemp is a perfect comic foil with impressive dancing feet. I wasn’t surprised to read of Gary Wilmot’s involvement in this show as he and Stemp are very similar in personality and this Buttons could have been Wilmot 40 years ago.
The ‘behind you’, ‘oh no it isn’t’ and happy ever after tropes are well in evidence, with a lot of amusement for adults as well as children. Slick, charming, and accomplished, Richmond’s Cinderella is a traditional panto.
The ensemble of Lucia Coleman, Luke Jarvis, Hannah Morcos, Rowen Newsome, Emily Rose-Davis and Sienna Walker embody polar bears, pumpkins, guests and more.
A six person orchestra adds sufficient power to keep songs inspired by Petula Clark, Bryan Adams and, well, “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer”, moving.
With a sweet heroine, true friends, and hissable hussies, Cinderella is a definite ‘hurrah’.
Cinderella continues to 4 Jan – details here.
Photo credit: Ian Olsson