Cinderella till 17 January

Coventry

Cinderella: Bob Black
Tkts: 024 7655 3055
Runs: 2h 30m, one interval, till 17 January
Review: Rod Dungate, 22 December 2003-12-23

Coventry's panto is like an old friend . . . yet it's as fresh as ever.
Visiting a Belgrade pantomime is like going to see an old friend warming, cheering and confirmation that simple pleasures have not been obliterated by the 21st Century. Indeed you suspect that the Belgrade's offering is robust enough to withstand whatever time throws at it.

Not that it's stuck in a rut. This year it's a fresh as ever with Coventry's best loved ingenue (alias dame alias fashion icon aka Andy Hockley) vying with Alexander Delamere for pole position in the eligible bachelor women stakes. They're the Ugly Sisters Nessie and Griselda. The two work brilliantly together, injecting great sacksful of energy into the proceedings: I'm not really going to take sides but Hockley's first appearance dressed rather as a wagon wheel takes the biscuit I only put this in to use that joke, sorry. I'm constantly amazed at the wildness of a panto team's imagination in coming up with ever more outrageous settings - the two sisters' appearance in gross bathing costumes has to be seen to be believed. Their duet IF I DIDN'T HAVE YOU is a high spot.

Mark Rattray (Buttons) ensures things rattle along too: he's immediately likeable and has some intriguingly bizarre routines like operating on a teddy bear. He has the advantage of a great singing voice too. Duets with Emma Reyes (Cinderella) are lovely oases within all the madness.

Stephen Ley more than makes his presence felt as Baron Hardup while Alwyne Taylor brings a sense of seasonal witchy-poo as the Baron's new wife and Cinderella's wicked step mother.

Bob Black is responsible for the script and has added some nice details to fill out the story.

Ugly Sister Griselda: Alexander Delamere
Dandini: Tom Frederic
Ugly Sister Nessie: Andy Hockley
Baron Hardup: Stephen Ley
Fairy Godmother: Juliet Prew
Buttons: Mark Rattray
Cinderella: Emma Reyes
Wicked Stepmother: Alwyne Taylor

Ensemble:
Krystle Gerrard, Liam Walsh, Lisa Dunn, Lucy Gill, Ricky Healey, Siobhan Healey, Rebecca Luckett, Cassandra Todd, Matthew Warren, Zoe O'Sullivan

Director: Nigel West
Choreographer: Dollie Henry
Musical Director: Hilary Brooks
Designer: Tim McQuillen-Wright
Lighting: Robin Carter

2003-12-23 16:50:10