The audience is being served up with all it wants, all it expects, and then some more. We have a wonderfully flamboyant Dame Dolly Dumpling (Jonathan Owen), aided and abetted by her aptly named son, Muddles, superbly portrayed by comedy legend, Bernie Clifton. Once the fairest of all, Queen Helga (Kim Hartman of 'Allo 'Allo! fame) and her henchman, Herman (Fenton Gray) were suitably wicked. Nicholas Maude was the truly handsome Prince, with a magnificent voice too, whilst the multi-talented Danielle Nicholls as Snow White justified her 'fairest of all' tag and captured more hearts than just that of the Prince. Newly christened with appropriate names, such as Eager, Miser, Rush and Moaner, the Seven Dwarfs were brilliant, but I particularly liked Rapper. However, there was a lot of icing on this Christmas cake, as we were treated to the sensuous dancing of Vicky McManus, The Woodland Fairy, but Vicky is an aerialist too, and her performance in that aspect was stunning. What's an aerialist? See the show and find out; it's well worth it. Put an Ostrich in to the equation, stir in an excellent dance company (beautiful girls, handsome guys, dazzling costumes etc etc), enjoy the slick changes of the impressive scenery, wallow in superb lighting effects, particularly with the 'mirror, mirror on the wall' scene, and even fireworks, and you'll realise this is a show not to be missed. Even the unintentional slips (of tongue and on stage) and occasional forgotten line were hilarious. Audience participation? Oh yes there is! The enthusiastic audience were involved throughout: the cameo, when Muddle sang Old MacDonald with some youngsters from the audience on stage, was really charming, and the ad-lib poems addressed to the audience added even more fun. It would be churlish and unseasonable to find fault with such a magnificent feast of entertainment, thoroughly enjoyed by all my family. Suffice it to say that once again, The Playhouse Theatre has turned up trumps with this 'don't miss' panto. Snow White continues at The Playhouse until 9 January 2005, and there are matinees, audio described and signed performances.
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