Cinderella

Published Friday 21 December 2007 at 15:50 by Chris High

‘Lavish’ sums this production of Cinders up. The biggest pantomime the Royal Court has staged certainly comes up to the mark, as the audience are treated to a show harking back to the days of vaudeville from the off and has them dancing in aisles by the end.

Local DJ Pete Price as Buttons is the engine, dragging children and adults from their seats with a series of tasks to perform that they greedily lap up ,and so brings the spirit of the occasion to the fore.

Excellent, too, is Steven Pinder. Best known as Max Farnham in Liverpool soap, Brookside, his Prince Charming certainly lives up to his character’s name in every sense, and Leanne Campbell in the title role has a voice as clear as a mountain spring. Chantelle Joseph has to be the most down to earth, fun Fairy Godmother in panto history. Dragging the boos and hisses from the kids with ease are Eithne Browne and Crissy Rock, who keep the show rolling along effortlessly in a vast wardrobe of bizarre costumes and an array of vile shenanigans that are designed to put poor Cinders down.

The set is visually stunning, the effects mesmerising and the dancing almost faultless.

Some things work better than others. Toning down the slapstick sound effects might be worthy of consideration, but on the whole the show is a lesson in how these things should be done. Director Jane Brown deserves to be heartily congratulated on producing another winner.