ACT Reviews 2022-2023 Season

CINDERELLA Director - Richard Gaffney Musical - Director Ed Nurse

Choreographer - Emma Bowyer Urmston Musical Theatre After a three-year enforced absence, the audience was in a festive mood and ready for pantomime frolics. There was no trace of the problems of the last couple of year’s troublesome times: the auditorium echoed with the sounds of all the laughter. The in-house set transported everyone to panto

land and whilst the transformation screen was a little clunky it was still effective. Character presentation, with in-house costumes, was aided by excellent principal costumes fromThe Boyz. The production team brought the magic of pantomime to the Poolside Theatre. The script was very good and different from the usual “Cinderella” format. For this version the pantomime is carried by the Buttons character. There were no Brokers Men and the Ugly Sisters scenes were reduced. This did not detract from the audience’s enjoyment of the piece. In this presentation, the teamwork was the winning factor as the company worked as one at a super pace moving the story swiftly along. There was plenty of pantomime business with each character bouncing off each other. The audience has to be that extra cast member for booing and shouting out. All members of the audience were all on board and having a great time.

Pantomime stalwart John Walker played the Baron with his usual flair. There was no Baroness so the Baron alone had to appease his stepdaughters. The sisters were played by Daniel Mellor (Drizella) and Megan Collier (Anastasia). Only having one of the sisters in drag tended to make things a little lopsided, although their scenes were well