Aladdin Pantomime 2018 – Norwich Theatre Royal!
Pantomime… It’s a bit like Marmite I’m afraid, you’ll either love it or… But however you feel there’s no denying the place panto has in British history and from the traditions of the actual performance: Slapstick, musical, comedy. And the characters: Principle boy is a girl while the dame is a man in drag. The style: Risqué, full of innuendos and basking in audience participation – to the very real fact that this art form would often keep theatres afloat, taking in most of the year’s revenue thus enabling them to keep going with the rest of their annual bill, it certainly belongs and this season, in Norwich, we have Aladdin!
Now I’m a lover of Panto it has to be said and my husband is too. It’s a bit of fun, something for the kids and full of Christmas vibes to boot. We’ve seen many over the years and though awful is kind of what you want from pantomime it has to be awful done brilliantly. Some soar while unfortunately others… Flop before they even start not quite understanding that am-dram in the village hall and pantomime are very different creatures. I can tell you with authority that Aladdin at Norwich Theatre Royal this season is every bit as good as any other show I would expect to see there. Slick and EXTREMELY clever while still retaining the brilliant level of awful I demand from a pantomime – awful jokes, a touch of awful singing with adience participation and an awful baddie who deserves his boos and hisses – Rik Makarem (Emmerdale) you were brilliant! I want lots of joining in with a panto and thanks to fabulously funny delivery from Widow Twanky (Richard Gauntlet – Theatre Royal panto stalwart, writer AND director) and Wishee Washee (Ben Langley – SUPER good) we got just that! My children were laughing their socks off, as were we! There’s something quite liberating about pantomime; being in the audience screaming ‘It’s behind you!’ while the rest of the year you have to behave in those seats really adds to the experience and last night’s press performance of Aladdin in Norwich was all we wanted it to be!
We have in Aladdin a Milkshake presenter as the Genie, a Hollyoaks star as Aladdin and a very beautiful Princess with an amazing singing voice! The scenery is offensive on the eye and simple (just as I like it for panto) and as always the ensemble case were catching my eye. I was impressed with the choreography and how in harmony they danced with each other and as for the little Babes, well they did amazingly well. Not a step out of line and so tiny. All the children come from Central School of Dance in Norwich so I had Florence begging me to move her there so that she can do panto next year – to be honest it’s a decision I’ve been thinking about anyway and seeing the level of professionalism in these tiny tots is giving me a bit of a nudge.
Aladdin is pure comedy with children rolling so hard with giggles they’re nearly falling off their seats – even if you’re not a panto fan I’d defy you to think this one was anything other than fabulous! Go on, give all the fun of the fair with the carnival and circus thrown in as a bonus a go and you’ll see why our children came away jabbering about their favourite moments (magic carpet ride HELLO), wide eyed with excitement still dancing in the air.
The 2018 panto at Norwich Theatre Royal is on from now until January the 13th 2019 with daily double shows – man these actors are working hard! Book using the Theatre Royal box office on line or by calling 01603 630000.
With plenty to keep the kids entertained as they whizz off on a magical carpet ride in this version of Aladdin, you’ll be adding to your festive cheer no end!
We were invited to press night as guests of the theatre.
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