Cinderella Pantomime at Malvern Theatres - Review

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Thu 14 Dec 2017 - Sun 07 Jan 2018

While theatres in larger cities opt for big scale pantos, Malvern Festival Theatre's festive offering has always had an entertaining but simpler charm about it that punched above its weight.



This year, the fairytale is Cinderella and has the pull of TV personalities like Alison Hammond from This Morning as the Fairy Godmother and Britain's Got Talent 2010 finalist Mark James as Buttons.

The panto is on at Malvern Theatres until January 7 and has the usual basic scenery and storylines, choosing to focus on characters and songs once again.

There's also the traditional favourites of sweets thrown into the crowd, water guns blasted on to the audience and plenty of calls for 'it's behind you' or 'oh no it isn't' to keep children, in particular, happy.

There's no evil stepmother but the two ugly sisters make up for that in the form of a pair of gloriously catty panto dames played by David Ball and Paul Lawrence Thomas.



While Hammond and James are both refreshing additions to the stage, they make up in likeability and enthusiasm what they lack in panto and acting experience.

Hammond especially adds an extra dimension as the sparkling fairy who disguises herself as an old Jamaican woman (with a dodgy Brummie influenced Caribbean accent ) and later does a rap number to the Missy Elliot hit Get Your Freak On.

Cinderella was a little slow to get going and some of the song choices were a bit downbeat compared to previous years, which meant that the show sometimes dragged.

Gemma Naylor, who children will know from Nick Jr, CBBC or Nickelodeon, was playing Cinderella and had a strong voice but not any real presence on stage.

It was the more seasoned pantomime actors that made the most impact. David Ball - one half of The Ugly Sisters - was particularly good at ad-libbing to brighten up the panto.



Then there was seasoned 'Prince' Ben Hawlow as Prince Charming who made up a strong double act with Mark Peachey as servant Dandin with some slick song and dance routines.

With tickets costing between £11.76 and £28.56, Malvern provides a sound, enjoyable panto that is still real value for money. There's no real special effects and big budget sets but it's a festive treat full of frivolity.

RATING: & #9733 ;& #9733 ;& #9733 ;& #9734 ;& #9734 ;

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!date 14/12/2017 -- 07/01/2018
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