In our house, the festivities usually kick off when we go to see the annual pantomime at local Richmond Theatre. And last night Christmas was officially declared.
By 630pm (it starts at 7pm) the foyer was filled with excited children – some with their families, others with school and youth groups. Christmas tunes were playing and while some of the kids were waving their newly purchased light toys, others were tackling the puzzles in the programmes and a few were just quietly taking in the sparkling splendour of the stage screen.
Like in 2010's Sleeping Beauty, the star of the show was “joke machine” Tim Vine playing Wishee Washee, Aladdin’s brother. Just about every time he said something I laughed – as did most of the audience. His rapport with the audience was immediate and he had us shouting welcomes, clapping along, singing and participating from the word go. And the kids adored him too.
All the silly jokes, double entendre, ridiculous outfits and fooling around by Widow Twanky (Graham Hoadly) were greeted with squeals of delight – a grown up man, dressed as a woman and being so childish! The girls all seemed to like Jasmine (Helena Dowling) who held her own amongst the dancers.
The music was eclectic but perhaps biased to the adults in the audience - there were numbers from Queen (I want it all), Barry Manilow (Could it be magic), Kenny Loggins (Footloose), Spandau Ballet (Gold), One Direction (Light up my world), Jackie Wilson (Higher and Higher), Aretha Franklin (Think) and even “Step in time” from Mary Poppins! But the biggest cheer was when there was a snippet of Gangnam Style with Wishee Washee doing the dance!
The cast were all people you would recognise as presenters, from television, film and the West End stage. The slave of the ring and the genie of the lamp were played by Suzanne Shaw from Hear’Say and Dancing on Ice fame.
There was a team of enthusiastic young professional dancers and two teams of child dancers. I was particularly struck by a young chap (possibly seven years old) with bright blonde hair who performed every dance move with considered effort and whose smile was permanent. I expect we will see a lot of him when he’s older.
Aladdin runs until 13th January 2013 – go along and get into the Christmas spirit with some harmless family fun. And next year’s pantomime (7 Dec 2013 – 12 January 2014) has already been announced as Peter Pan – get those pirate and Red Indian costumes ready!
http://www.atgtickets.com/shows/aladdin/richmond-theatre/
