Ian Waller and his family enjoy a wonderful evening out of festive fun at the wonderful Theatre Royal Bath
What a fantastic production! This year’s Theatre Royal Pantomime is pure comedy gold and wonderful family entertainment! With the perfect combination of great fun, top drawer performances and all the classic panto silliness that you always expect, it’s impossible to fault!
Starring once again the wonderful Jon Monie – who also wrote the script – along with TV star Dani Harmer… well, come on, you know the story – ugly sisters, glass slipper, poor old lovelorn Buttons. The great things about this production is that the grand old tale is given such clever, super fresh make-over, with great songs and clever references to the news – including a hilarious mick-take of a certain prime minister losing his place during a speech – all combined with wonderful panto favourites.
Front and centre is Mr Monie, real Theatre Royal royalty and the ideal leading man. His comedy turns, facial expressions and wonderful timing are a joy to see. And best of all, the rest of the cast are on top form too. Dani Harmer’s Fairy Godmother is all fun, games and fizzing fireworks, while Duncan Burt and Nic Gibney at Melody (“Pronounce M’lady”) and Harmony Hard-up, are the best Bristolian ugly sisters you’ll ever have the misfortune to encounter, and worth every boo and hiss that the audience has to give them.
Special mention also has to go to Elly Jay as Cinderella, Josh Rose at Prince Charming, Chris Fearn at Dandini and Michael Chance as Baron Hard-up. They all take to their roles with such fun, skill and professionalism, with Elly in particular having the most amazing singing voice, Josh showing an incredible comedic touch to the daft as a brush Prince, Chris adding an undeniable hint of the Hugh Grant to his role, and Michael wonderfully naive to the happenings around him.
Add in a superb troupe of dancer and this is pretty much the closet that you’re going to get to panto perfection. And yes, of course, the bench and the ghost is back (you’ll know what I mean if you’ve been to any Bath panto over the last few years). Oh yes it is…
We’ve enjoyed family panto night at the Theatre Royal every year for the past decade or so, and loved every one of them. However, this year’s Cinderella is the best of lot and certainly not to be missed.
Cinderella at the Theatre Royal Bath runs until 9 January 2022. For more details and to book tickets, click here