Cinderella

As a lover of traditional pantomime I have, over the past few decades, been so disappointed to see how that tradition has been debased. The classic stories messed with, the insertion of pop and soap stars to pep up box office sales, all in all the art was dying except for a few notable companies who were dedicated to keeping it alive.

This year I went up to London and to the Palladium no less. It was long the home of great panto and often they would run from Christmas until Easter. It would not surprise me if this exuberant seasonal confection did just that – because a production as good as this Cinderella deserves to run and run.

From the opening to the end it is packed with theatrical magic. Amanda Holden as the fairy godmother is wittily cast, not only does she fly, she soars over the audience in the stalls, sings beautifully and has a world weary charm that is truly endearing. Paul Zerdin, and his pal Sam, delivers a classic Buttons, slightly simple but totally lovable. His skill as a ventriloquist is unquestionable but it is the wit of his delivery and his ability to really engage with the audience that makes him so special.

Count Arthur Strong as the bumbling Baron Hardup works well and especially in the complex comedy musical routine that he shares with all of the principals in the second act, that is a real tour de force and a classic panto element that I simple loved.

Nigel Havers is wonderfully silly, drifting in and out of the action, asking if he can have a bit in this scene or that and taking the Micky out of himself throughout – which he does with good grace and a great deal of humour as he takes it on the chin again and again from Julian Clary.

Paul O’Grady was born to play the wicked stepmother and from the very first entrance is hissed and booed in good measure. It would be easy for him to deliver the whole as his alter ego Lily Savage, but he builds the part far beyond that and carries it off, as well as he carries off the extraordinary costumes. In the post ball scene he looks like the ageing love child of Lesley Joseph and John Cooper Clarke!

Natasha J Barnes is a pretty and homely Cinderella with a sweet voice and engaging nature, as should be, but she really comes into her own in one of the comedy set pieces where, with Button and the Prince, they reduce the classic Love Changes Everything to a comedic masterpiece. Lee Mead is good as the pretty prince and again his theatre history is used to rib him relentlessly.

I enjoyed the way the script allows the principals to come in and out of character to provide knowing adult comedy. And it has to be said that the script does what any good panto should do and provide two levels of comedy, one for the younger members of the audience and one for the grown ups, and this was very grown up indeed. Hardly surprising news with Julian Clary involved and maybe some will find the humour just a bit too close to the knuckle, but this is 2016 so get with it.

Clary has played Dandini before and has made the role his own, the foppish aide de camp who minces his way through the whole production with his usual style. In many ways you could say that he steals the show, he certainly has all the best lines, peppered as they are with double, triple and quadruple entendre. But here we see that he is a generous performer working well with his co-stars to create great ensemble comedy, Clary and Havers, what a great double act! It would be rude to not mention the costumes too, all brilliant, from pink bear-skinned guards to tap dancing pumpkins and sequinned Salvationists, but they reach a peak of ludicrousness with Clary’s hysterical feather bedecked numbers, a new one for almost all of his ‘entrances’ and each bigger and sillier than the last.

The production is full of brilliant wizardry, a flying carriage drawn by two horses that soars over the stalls, Clary doing the same on a Vespa and turning upside down to boot, lavish sets, beautiful lighting and a great band in the pit as well as a massive chorus of dancers who owe much of their art to Saint Vitus. Need I go on? This is classic pantomime of the very highest order, I left aching from smiling, laughing, hissing, booing, shouting and singing. Fight for a ticket to see what could be the pantomime of a lifetime.

Cinderella

Palladium London

Until January 15

5 stars