Cinderella

Published Friday 14 December 2007 at 12:10 by Neil Bonner

Local hero Jonathan Wilkes tops the Regent panto bill for the third year running - and proves yet again that he is a true master of the genre. After years of successfully plying his craft in top-notch musicals, his vocal abilities are unquestioned but combine that with his comedic talents and natural rapport with his audience and here you have the perfect panto star.

Having said that, this show - consistently enjoyable as it is - fails to make the best use of him, so he rarely breaks out of the stereotypical Buttons role. It doesn’t, for instance, allow much scope for big laughs as there are no large-scale comic capers of the slapstick variety. He doesn’t even have an audience participation song sheet routine with which to flex his comic muscles.

Wilkes blends perfectly with West End musical regular Louise Dearman, as Cinderella, though some better-known songs would have enhanced the appeal of their vocal contributions.

Former Coronation Street star Shobna Gulati makes a wonderful Fairy Godmother and has lots of local references in her jokey verse, ensuring her appearances are always well received. Andy Goulding is a fine Baron Hardup, but Graham Hoadly and Christian Patterson’s Ugly Sisters are just plain nasty, with little comic value.